T.J. Osborne Overwhelmed by ‘Tsunami of Love’ After Coming Out

Country music superstar T.J. Osborne made history when he came out in an interview last month, making him the only out star signed to a major country label. One half of the Brothers Osborne country music duo, Osborne told CBS This Morning he has been overwhelmed by the reception received since coming out, and encouraged others to do the same.

"It's been amazing, honestly," he said when asked to describe the reception he's received since coming out. He went on, later describing the outpouring of support as "a tsunami of love, almost to the point it was hard for me to even comprehend it for several days."

Osborne had been out to family and close friends for some time, but was hesitant about the response he would receive from fans of his music. Plus, he revealed he found the whole process of coming out a bit strange and uncomfortable. He described the process as an "awkward thing to talk about" and "really out of the blue" and just "an odd thing to bring up," but he made clear he was glad that he did come out.

"It's a hard thing to describe, it's a very difficult thing to go through," Osborne said. "And I even had a lot of support around me. But once I finally came out ... I didn't really understand the magnitude of how much people cared about me, loved me and supported me."

He went on to say had he known of the support awaiting him, he would have come out sooner.

"I would have done it probably a long time ago and saved myself a lot of strife," he said. "Anyone out there, if you're dealing with that, there's people that love you and people that support you. Lots of them. So feel encouraged by that."

Osborne was on the show to talk about his coming out, but also the upcoming Country Music Awards. He and brother John of Brothers Osborne received 2021 CMA nominations for Duo of the Year and Album of the Year for Skeletons.

While Osborne is the first out country music star signed to a major country label, there are other country and country-adjacent artists like Lil Nas X, Brandi Carlile, k.d. Lang, Chely Wright, Orville Peck, and Brandy Clark who have been making music while being out, but not specifically on country labels.

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