Heartstopper’s Kit Connor Says He Was Forced To Out Himself As Bisexual

Star of Netflix’s coming-of-age series Heartstopper, Kit Connor has come out as bisexual after succumbing to pressure on social media. 

The 18-year-old, who played bisexual rugby player Nick Nelson, briefly reappeared on Twitter with the tweet: “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.”

https://twitter.com/kit_connor/status/1587218539236188160

In September, Connor left the microblogging service,, tweeting, “this is a silly silly app. bit bored of it now, deleting twitter :)”

Prior to that in May, after people were speculating on his sexuality, he tweeted,“twitter is so funny man. apparently some people on here know my sexuality better than I do…”

https://twitter.com/kit_connor/status/1521245416901296128

Connor: We’re Still All So Young

During that same month, in an interview on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast, Connor and Heartstopper costar Joe Locke talked about the pressure they are under to come out publicly. 

“We’re still all so young. To start sort of speculating about our sexualities and maybe pressuring us to come out when maybe we’re not ready,” Connor said. 

“For me, I just feel perfectly confident and comfortable with my sexuality. But I don’t feel the need to really, you know — I’m not too big on labels and things like that. I’m not massive about that. I don’t feel like I need to label myself, especially not publicly.”

He added, “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.”

Heartstopper is a series adapted from a graphic novel about teenagers, Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson and their unlikely friendship that becomes romantic. Season 2 of the successful show is currently in production. 

‘Coming Out Should Be On One’s Own Terms’

Dr Sujith Kumar Prankumar, a social researcher at UNSW, said, “Coming out can feel joyful and liberating, but it should be done on one’s own terms.

“People want to see others like them represented on screen, especially when there has been a historical lack of positive representation of minority groups. When that representation comes, they form a bond with the character and feel they know them personally and intimately. 

“Unfortunately, this hunger for authenticity can manifest itself in unhealthy and even harmful ways, when people feel like they have a right to know whether the actor fits their image of what the character should be. We see that here with Heartstopper’s Kit Connor, and we also saw that with the racist attacks against African American actress Halle Bailey’s casting as Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, and the homophobic response to Velma coming out as lesbian in the new Scooby-Doo film.”

Tommaso Armstrong, a PhD researcher at the University of Technology Sydney who is examining how social media shapes the experiences of queer young people, believes that social media can be both empowering and detrimental to queer youth. 

Armstrong said, “It can be powerful when queer young people have the agency to use social media to express their identities within supportive contexts. But it’s often not safe or comfortable for many queer young people to do this in public or identifiable ways, especially if they’re in an unsupportive family, cultural or geographic environment. 

“The way social media posts can be very public, permanent and quickly shared means that queer young people who are outed online can have very little control over their narrative and face backlash or harassment.”

In June, Australian celebrity Rebel Wilson was outed in a Sydney Morning Herald column to much public criticism. The SMH’s actions were condemned by the Australian Press Council on October 29.