Keith London tells BuzzFeed why he sang Beyoncé’s “If I Were A Boy” without changing the pronouns, his thoughts on the controversial reaction from the judges, and how fans are responding to his decision to come out as gay. Updated!
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Keith London on American Idol.
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On Wednesday night, 21-year-old aspiring musician Keith London performed Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy" during the "Hollywood Week" episode of American Idol. He purposefully did not change the pronouns in the song, which London intended to be a sly way of acknowledging that he's gay.
After London's performance aired on the East Coast, he tweeted, "Wait, did I just basically come out on National TV? Oh well cats out of the bag!"
"It was amazing," he told BuzzFeed Thursday morning. "Twitter's blowing up. Facebook's blowing up. It's awesome that people are talking about it."
During the episode, Idol judges Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. expressed their confusion over London's song choice and the segment caused some disapproval on Twitter and elsewhere online over the judges' reactions. After London began singing the song, Lopez pointed out to Connick that London wasn't changing the pronouns, and Connick responded, "It don't impress me." Lopez agreed, adding, "It is bizarre." Then, Connick said, "It's a weird choice. OK, we get it. You're trying to be cute."
London said his goal in singing "If I Were a Boy" was quite the opposite of "trying to be cute." "My view on it is that Beyoncé is thinking that she would know what it's like to be in a man's shoes," London told BuzzFeed. "And my take on that is that you'll never know what it's like in somebody else's shoes. I come from a very unique background, and no one knows just why I do the things I do." When asked to elaborate on his unique background, London said, "I travel all over the country doing odd jobs. It's not the stereotypical, you know, lifestyle [for a gay man]."
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