Heartstopper's Kit Connor Doesn't Want to Label His Sexuality Yet

As Taylor Swift once put it, some people just "need to calm down."

Kit Connor has become a mainstream celebrity overnight due to his endearing and relatable performance as Nick on Netflix's Heartstopper. Unfortunately, that level of success also comes with a lot of pressure from certain fans.

In an interview with the Reign With Josh Smith podcast, Connor talked about how much pressure he and his costar Joe Locke (Charlie) have gotten to label their sexualities and potentially come out as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Connor explained:

"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... 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."

The actor also reacted to the Heartstopper viewers who took to social media to voice out their assumptions regarding whether or not Connor and Locke are queer in real life:

"I honestly found it a little bit funny how they just make assumptions about [our sexualities]. It's 2022. It feels strange to make assumptions about someone's sexuality just based on hearing their voice or seeing their appearance. I feel like that's a very interesting, slightly problematic assumption to make."

For context, both Locke and Connor have just turned 18 in the last few months, which means that they're still extremely young individuals who are still figuring themselves out outside of the characters they've played on the hit Netflix series.

Despite the show's massive success, Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney had to recently deal with transphobic remarks thrown her way while she was just eating at a restaurant. Finney played Elle in the series, which has become one of the absolute fan-favorite characters within the fandom. Alas, life can still be hard for an 18-year-old trans woman living in the UK.

Altogether, it's absolutely fair for Connor to criticize the Heartstopper viewers who have been trying to push him and Locke out of the closet or make assumptions about their sexualities. Both actors have just turned 18 years old, so it's more than understandable that they might not be ready to make any public announcements about how they understand their sexualities for the time being.

Heartstopper is now streaming on Netflix.

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