Dannii Minogue has a message for people who actually unfollowed her on social media for hosting the BBC’s I Kissed A Boy.
The groundbreaking series – which is the UK’s first gay dating show – debuted on iPlayer earlier this month, and features a group of gay men in the sear for love against the backdrop of an Italian masseria.
Danni, who has long been an LGBTQ+ ally, serves as the show’s presenter, overseeing the ‘Kiss Off’ and various other challenges.
Appearing on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast, Dannii spoke of how some people unfollowed her on social media for promoting the show in the lead up to its debut.
She said: “I think people have been scared to make a show like this. I get the feeling sometimes it’s like, ‘oh, well not everyone wants to see that’.”
“You know what my answer is? You don’t have to watch.”
Dannii went on: “I got a bunch of messages when we had announced that the show was starting, and a bunch of people saying, ‘I am now unfollowing you, this is just too much.’
“I’m thinking all the years of Mardi Gras and Pride and this is too much for you?
“I think that there’s something where it’s okay if I’m in sequins and on stage singing. To have a TV show where you’re gonna see two guys kissing and it’s not in the clubs, it’s not something hidden away really does affect some people.
“And again, I revert to, they don’t have to watch it! If they wanna unfollow me and say anything like that, you should have unfollowed me a long time ago.”
Dannii has a long association with the LGBTQ+ community, having been one of the first big pop stars to play London nightspot G-A-Y in the 90s, at a time when that was considered a risky thing to do in the music industry.
She also posed naked with a red ribbon on World Aids Day in 2004 and sang at Pride in London in 1997, before coming together with her sister Kylie on stage at World Pride in Sydney earlier this year.
Reign With Josh Smith is available on podcast platforms now, while two new episodes of I Kissed A Boy drop each Sunday on BBC iPlayer, also airing on Sunday and Monday at 9pm on BBC Three.