"A lot of homophobia": Caleb Shomo opens up on the backlash he faced months after coming out as gay

Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo has spoken about the backlash he faced after publicly coming out as gay earlier this year.

As he told in The Break Down with Nath & Johnny podcast, the 33-year-old musician shared the story of how he experienced significant homophobia when he became more open about his sexuality.

Recalling, Caleb Shomo came out publicly in May, eight months since he informed his relatives and close friends. He made the decision shortly after the end of his 14-year marriage to Fleur Shomo.

The singer said he decided not to hold back when expressing himself after changes in his personal life.

In the conversation, the singer shared that he wanted the liberty to wear whatever he wanted, perform the way he wanted, and express himself without having to please others.

"I had already decided, like, I'm not gonna water myself down at all. I'm going to just do what I want to do. I'm going to wear what I want to wear. I'm going to sing how I want to sing, I'm gonna look how I wanna look and just enjoy being an artist that's allowed to do that, and has the freedom to do that."

However, the decision was met with strong opposition from some people.

"And that was met with a lot of opposition and a lot of … I mean, really, just a lot of homophobia, and a lot of people who really were not okay with me presenting that way at all, with what I was doing, any of it."

Caleb Shomo says coming out as gay affected his performance

The backlash began affecting his capacity to perform. Caleb Shomo said that he was often in an emotionally tough spot during much of the day and lacked the energy to get ready for the shows.

Eventually, he decided to take a break from the social networks in an attempt to shield himself from the criticism.

"A lot of the day I'd be spent in a really, really bad place and just trying to find enough energy and enough will to get myself warmed up and get on that stage and do my f****** job. And it didn't really change as we kept releasing more songs, and the very vocal opposition continued and still continues to."

Caleb Shomo added that the ongoing antagonism carried on even as Beartooth put out additional music, adding that "just being honest with people about who I am" has caused the conflict to worsen.

In May, the artist addressed speculation about his personal life in an Instagram post to his followers.

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"There's been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late. I am a proudly gay man."

At the time of his coming-out announcement, he also revealed his breakup with Fleur, his wife of 14 years. While she expressed her support for him, the pair ultimately divorced in July.

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