Dove Cameron is floored by her fans’ support of her queer identity and “overtly queer” music after winning Best New Artist at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards over the weekend. During her acceptance speech, the former Disney Channel star dedicated the award to LGBTQ2S+ youth.
“Wow. Thank you so much. I’m so floored, I’m so moved,” Cameron said. “This is so wild to be up here with so many artists that I worship, these are some of my all-time favourite artists up here. This year has been so wild, and I have no explanation for it except that I have you guys to thank. I know that.”
Cameron then went on “to dedicate this to all of the queer kids out there who don’t feel that they can take up space and inhabit the fullness of who they are.”
Related: LGBTQ2s+ celebs leading the way for positive representation.
The 26-year-old singer-songwriter thanked fans for supporting her “overtly queer” music. She even spoke directly about her hit November 2021 release, “Boyfriend,” which sees Cameron singing openly about her queer identity.
“Thank you for getting an overtly queer song onto mainstream radio,” Cameron added. “Thank you for supporting me as the person and the artist I am and I hope that in that way you’ve also given that same privilege to yourself.”
Last July, Dove Cameron opened up about her sexuality in an interview with Refinery29. She originally came out a year prior on Instagram Live, telling her followers she was “super queer.” Fans didn’t seem to see it as Cameron coming out until she was on the cover of Gay Times, where she talked about being bisexual and her experience coming out as a celebrity.
See also: LGBTQ2S+ terms you keep hearing and what they mean.
“I was never confused about who I was,” Cameron said. “I was really nervous to come out and, one day, I dropped it because I was behaving like somebody who was out and realized I wasn’t.”
“When you are who you are, you assume people see that and then you realize, ‘No, I have to come out otherwise people aren’t gonna know,’” she added.
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