Former Biggest Loser Trainer Jillian Michaels Claims Pride Has Gone Too Far
Image: Image: Jillian Michaels On The Joe Rogan Experience
Former trainer on The Biggest Loser US, Jillian Michaels, who came out as a lesbian in 2012, has found herself in hot water after contending that Pride month has gone too far.
In a Daily Mail article titled “Why I, a gay woman, can’t celebrate Pride Month now that it’s been hijacked by leather daddies, drag shows and corporate stunts” the former Biggest Loser trainer argues that Pride has lost its class and outlived its usefulness.
She claims the event has shifted from righteous protest to hypersexual capitalist spectacle, taken over by “shock value, sexual exhibitionism, and corporate hypocrisy.”
Controversy over kink in Pride has a long tradition
Jillian Michaels comments contribute to a decades-old discourse concerning the presence of kink subcultures at Pride events.
“We’ve all seen the footage” she writes. “Leather daddies in assless chaps simulating sex acts in public. Drag queens twerking in thongs in front of children. Parades that look more like adult fetish conventions than civil rights celebrations.”
Illustrated with a picture of Mr Leather UK wearing a fetching leather crown and a drag queen in trans colours, the article argues that Pride parades have lost their purpose and their class, becoming superfluous in a world where gay people “can marry. Adopt. Run for office. We have legal protections and public support”
Michaels also criticises corporate involvement in Pride, arguing that brands have turned the event into a marketing opportunity rather than a meaningful celebration and particularly criticising pride themed clothing for children.
Michaels’ is not the first to criticise the inclusion of kink or corporations at Pride. The debate over who Pride is for and how attendees should conduct themselves has raged for half a century. But her article struck a chord online, attracting more than a thousand reader comments.
Daily Mail comments ironically demonstrate why Pride is still needed
“People month seems to go on all year long these days,” wrote one commenter, “and really it has just become a showcase for weirdos and the debauched.”
“Imagine demanding a whole month to celebrate the fact your back alley is open to the public!” offered another.
“Whilst one has sympathy for these afflicted by these deviations from nature’s design,” added a third, “it is hardly something to celebrate.”
Many comments called for Pride Month to be abolished, or for a Straight Month to be established.
Michaels shifts further to the right
This is not the fitness celebrity’s first foray into culture war commentary. In 2023, she criticised the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, accusing queer performers of mocking Christianity and warning that it would provoke a backlash against the LGBTQIA+ community.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience this year, she described gender-affirming care for trans youth as “the sterilisation of kids” and “a medical travesty” after a long conversation about the dangers of vaccines.
She wrote an article for the Daily Mail asserting that Hollywood stars are turning their children trans as a fashion statement.
And while she once called Mike Pence “the number one anti-gay politician in the country,” Michaels now says she voted for Donald Trump in 2024, after praising RFK Jr.’s views on public health.
