Caleb Shomo says backlash after he came out made his ‘life explode’
Caleb Shomo (Getty)
Rockstar Caleb Shomo has opened up about dealing with the backlash to him coming out as gay earlier this year.
The Beartooth frontman was a guest on The BreakDown with Nath & Johnny where he discussed how his sexuality “became very public and everybody else’s business” when he publicly came out.
Shomo revealed that he had started to come out privately to friends, family and his bandmates in September 2025 when he was still married to his now ex-wife Fleur Shomo. A few months later, in February, Beartooth released ‘Free’, the first song from their album Pure Ecstasy. In the music video for the track, Shomo presented a different look, wearing makeup, nail varnish and a crop top.
The change in his look attracted a lot of attention, with some posts and comments on social media providing “homophobic” commentary. “I had already decided, like, I’m not gonna water myself down at all,” Caleb said to the podcast hosts. “I’m going to just do what I wanna do. I’m gonna wear what I wanna wear, I’m gonna sing how I wanna sing, I’m gonna look how I wanna look and just enjoy being an artist that’s allowed to do that, and that has the freedom to do that.”
He went on to explain that this resulted in a lot of opposition, with people being “not okay” with the way that he chose to present himself from that point. “It was just kind of, like, sad, I guess is probably the only way to put it.”
The backlash meant that Shomo decided to “get off the internet for a while” and went so far as to delete his Instagram account. “I mean, a lot of the day I’d be spent in a really, really bad place and just trying to find enough energy and enough will to get myself warmed up and get on that stage and do my f****** job,” the singer said. “And it didn’t really change as we kept releasing more songs, and the very vocal opposition continued and still continues.”
After taking a break from the internet for several months, Shomo returned to social media before coming out in a 23 May post on Instagram. Following this in July, he and his wife jointly filed for a divorce, reports USA Today.
“When I took that period of time where I got off the internet, it was very eye-opening because it just forces you to look at everything in front of you, and I was on a tour, and the support that I felt from the people coming to see us play on that tour was astounding.”
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