This Openly Gay Performer Was Fearful They Potentially 'Outed' Singer Shawn Mendes

An openly gay entertainer expressed concern over potentially outing Shawn Mendes.

While being interviewed for an upcoming holiday project, talk turned to the Canadian singer’s recent declaration of “exploring” his sexuality during a concert. This led the interview subject to share their thoughts on the “Treat You Better” performer’s comments, before promptly offering an apology for their assumptions.

Being all too familiar with media scrutiny over their sexuality, the openly gay singer questioned if Shawn Mendes’ comments at a recent concert was confirmation of him “coming out.”

While speaking to Variety about his upcoming Christmas album, American Idol alum Clay Aiken touched on the now-viral video of Mendes’ candid admission during a performance in Colorado.

“By the way, did Shawn Mendes come out today?” the “Invisible” vocalist asked.

“Have you seen this video on his Instagram? I didn’t finish watching it because I looked at the time and I was like, ‘Oh God, I gotta get on the computer.'”

Aiken’s interview most likely took place at the end of October, which is when Mendes made headlines for his vulnerable comments.

Clips of the singer conversing with the crowd soon flooded TikTok and other platforms, with fans of Mendes applauding him for being open about his personal journey.

“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone,” Mendes shared during a break in the Oct. 28 show, as reported by The Blast.

“I don’t really know sometimes, and I know other times.”

Questions surrounding Mendes’ sexuality has followed the singer for years, forcing him to speak on the matter several times.

“I don’t know if he really [came out],” Aiken later told Variety. “I shouldn’t out him if he didn’t.”

Similar to Mendes, Aiken’s rise to fame as the runner-up on American Idol’s second season in 2003 came with a bevy of media attention about his purported sexuality.

After refusing to share his truth for years, he made the choice to publicly come out as a gay man in 2008.

“I feel like no one has speculated about [this] sh- t since 2000, [when] I went through that crap,” Aiken, now 45, told Variety. “I joke that after I came out publicly, it stopped being a story. I don’t know that anybody has had press in that way, like tabloid stories or questions by Diane Sawyer.”

Coincidentally, Mendes’ confession was brought up in a later interview with Queerty, where Aiken explained he had just spoken about it with another publication.

“[An] interview happened just like this one, and literally as I was logging on, someone sent me that video [of Mendes.],” he said. “But it bothered me that I talked about it, especially looking back at how [I] was [once] the number one story on Good Morning America. And I wasn’t even coming out [then], by the way.”

Aiken recalled during his interview that the matter of his sexuality, like Mendes, was often brought up during entertainment segments on morning talk shows.

To his surprise, it would be an argument between rival hosts Kelly Ripa and Rosie O’Donnell that added fuel to the media fire, when O’Donnell called Ripa out on The View in 2006 after she chastised Clay for placing his hand over her mouth during a telecast of Live with Regis and Kelly.

“I don’t know where that hand has been, honey,” Ripa told the singer, as reported by Us Weekly.

The next day, O’Donnell blasted Ripa on-air and claimed her comment was homophobic. Per Entertainment Weekly, Ripa then called in to The View studio to defend herself, saying O’Donnell needed to be more “responsible” with her judgement.

“Rosie O’Donnell had an argument with Kelly Ripa about it on live TV,” Aiken told Queerty. “I mean, that sh-t was happening [to me], and so I felt bad that I even talked about his private business to anybody at all, because I didn’t want them doing that to me.”

He then expressed pride over the changing times in media.

“But nobody’s having those arguments, or putting ‘is Shawn Mendes gay?’ on TV now, because if you did, you’d be taken off the air - as you should be,” he stated,

“Because [his sexuality is] his business, as was mine, as anyone’s,” Clay continued.

In the 22 years since he’s appeared on American Idol, Aiken has released five albums, including a holiday album in 2004, become a father, appeared on Broadway, and ran for Congress twice (he lost both times).

Music has always been at the heart of everything he’s done, however, which he hopes to prove with Christmas Bells Are Ringing!, his new holiday album and his first album overall in more than a decade.

“My last album was almost 15 years ago,” he admitted to Queerty. “I think I’ve spent [too] much time trying to get people, especially in [my home state of] North Carolina to think of me as something other than a singer from a TV show. So now I’m like, “Oh crap, I’ve got to remind them that I can sing again. I’m [still] alive, and I can sing.”

Though his journey to coming out publicly was incredibly rocky, Clay says he has no regrets with how his life has played out to this point – and reminds others that we all have our own journeys to traverse.

“I’m not gonna do the regrets thing, but I do wonder sometimes,” he noted. “If I had known [I was gay] prior to being on the show, if I would have felt comfortable with telling people or being open about it. I don’t imagine that I would have, [but] I don’t feel guilty about it because it was a different time! If someone in 2024 didn’t feel comfortable being out, I wouldn’t judge them because we’re all in our heads, and it’s different for each person.”

Clay’s new album, Christmas Bells Are Ringing!, is available to stream now.