Why was Kit Connor 'forced' to come out? Here's what led to his tweet confirming his bisexuality

Heartstopper's Kit Connor took to Twitter to confirm that he’s bisexual, after feeling ‘forced’ to come out following constant scrutiny regarding his sexuality. Now, fans and the cast of Heartstopper have leapt to his defense—here’s what Kit Connor’s tweet said…

For those who don't know, Heartstopper is Netflix's adaptation of Alice Oseman's graphic novel by the same name, which stars Kit Connor and Joe Locke. It is a beautiful and relatable story that follows Charlie (Joe) who is openly gay and rugby- player Nick Nelson (Kit), who is not officially out but during the series learns more about his sexuality as he falls in love with Charlie. The series has been praised for its representation of the LGBTQ+ community and has already been confirmed for a Heartstopper season two.

However, since its release, Kit has faced speculation about his own sexuality—with accusations of 'queerbaiting' rife on Twitter.

In September 2022, just weeks after the show premiered, the 18-year-old announced that he was deleting Twitter—but has now returned to the app to confirm his sexuality and call out those who 'forced' him to come out.

Here's what Kit Connor's tweet said and the responses from fans and co-stars...

What did Kit Connor's coming out tweet say?

In his statement, Kit wrote: “back for a minute. I’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.”

As fans will know, part of Nick’s struggle in the series is actually his fear of being outed and sees him eventually tell his mother and school peers when he was ready to do so.

Heartstopper’s author Alice was quick to come to Kit’s defense, commenting: “I truly don't understand how people can watch Heartstopper and then gleefully spend their time speculating about sexualities and judging based on stereotypes. I hope all those people are embarrassed as FUCK. Kit you are amazing 💖”

Kit’s co-star Sebastian Croft, also replied saying: "Kit Connor, the world doesn’t deserve you. Love you my friend ❤️”

Some Heartstopper fans also shared their support, with one writing:  “I’m so disappointed in this fandom. In three days we bullied one of the show's stars off twitter for absolutely no reason, and now we’ve forced the other star to out himself. HS is the most warm and loving show, but this fandom is extremely toxic. I’m so sad and disappointed.”

Another added, “Heartstopper was the first thing to make me feel safe and accepted as a bisexual person, and seeing that hstwt bullied kit connor into coming out is absolutely gut-wrenching.

"That’s the one thing that nick nelson was afraid of, and you’ve done it to the person who embodied him."

Why was Kit Connor 'forced' to come out?

For those who are out of the loop with this story and are unsure what 'queerbaiting' refers to, allow us to get you up to speed with what's gone on...

Ahead of his latest tweet, Kit quit Twitter after being hounded by queerbaiting claims, especially after fans began to speculate about his connection to A Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow co-star Maia Reficco, according to the Gay Times.

Kit then announced on September 12th, 2022 that he was deleting the app, tweeting: “this is a silly silly app. bit bored of it now, deleting twitter :)."

What is 'queerbaiting'?

The term 'queerbaiting' is defined as a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment purposes (TV shows, books, etc), where creators hint at but then do not depict LGBTQ+ relationships and romances, in a bid to draw in LGBTQ+ audiences.

Many fans have pointed out that an actor shouldn’t be accused of queerbaiting because they—like everybody of course—do not owe others an explanation of their sexuality, nor do we ever truly know the particulars of other people’s identities or how much they are willing to make public.

This is something Kit has also spoken on—following his Twitter departure, Kit said on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast: “In regards to my tweets, I just think that there’s a danger with things on social media. In the cast, I’m 18, and we have a few people in their early 20s and even with those older members of the cast, we’re all so young, and to start speculating about our sexualities and maybe pressuring us to come out when maybe we’re not ready."

He added, “I mean, for me, I just feel like I’m perfectly confident and comfortable in my sexuality, but I’m not too big on labels and things like that. I’m not massive about that. And I don’t feel like I need to label myself, especially not publicly. That tweet was slightly calling them out but also find it funny.

“It’s 2022, it feels a bit strange to make assumptions about a person’s sexuality just based on hearing their voice or seeing their appearance. I feel like that’s a very interesting, slightly problematic, sort of assumption to make.”