Sam Smith has called out an Instagram account set up purely to post homophobic abuse about him, to highlight the prejudices gay people still face.
On Tuesday night, the ‘Lay Me Down’ singer posted a screenshot of an Instagram account called ‘GaySamSmith’, with the username ‘WE HATE F****T SMITH’.
Sam Smith
Addressing the hate account, Sam wrote: “This genuinely doesn't offend me, coz I'm way too tick skinned when it comes to this kind of shit.
“BUT I just wanted to share this with everyone, so you can see how homophobia is still SO PRESENT in our society!”
The account, which has since been deleted, had the bio: “There is a f**, his name is Sam, when he’s on, I like to cry. He is gay but that’s okay, we can still make fun of him.”
Sam has spoken in the past about being on the receiving end of homophobic abuse, claiming he was attacked physically and verbally when he first moved to London, and admitted he was consistently bullied for being gay while he was at school.
Sam came out to the public in an interview last year, revealing that his album, ‘In The Lonely Hour’, had been written about an unrequited crush he had on a man he knew.
Although he’s never spoken publicly about the object of his affections, he did address him in his Grammys acceptance speech back in February, saying: “I want to thank the man who I fell in love with last year, who my record is about. Thank you so much for breaking my heart… because you got me four Grammys.”