Todrick Hall says he’s glad Donald Trump’s election has ‘woken people up’
By Will Stroude
YouTube star Todrick Hall has said he’s glad the election of Donald Trump as US President has helped “wake people up” to the ongoing battle for equality.
The singer and actor was speaking at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where he was promoting a new documentary film which charts his journey from a young boy growing up gay in rural Texas to creating his own musical, Straight Outta Oz, which is currently touring the US and comes to the UK in May.
In the interview with TheWrap’s SXSW, Hall was asked about his thoughts on the USA’s current political situation he admitted he had “mixed feelings” about the issues raised by newly-elected President Donald Trump’s term in office.
He explained: “While I’m not a super fan of the situation that we’re in – and that’s all I’ll say about that – I think that in some ways it’s one of the best things that could happen to our country, because never in my lifetime have I seen people rally together and support people.”
The 31-year-old continued: “I think a lot of us, especially people my age or younger people – millennials in general – take a lot of rights for granted… I think it’s really important for us to be able to see that people had to fight for those things, and for us to now stand up and fight for those things.”
The former American Idol added that he hoped Trump’s election would teach people the importance of standing up for issues that don’t necessarily affect them directly.
“It’s beautiful to see allies, people fighting for LGBTQ rights, men fighting for women’s rights and people who are Americans fighting for foreigners.”
“I think it’s a beautiful thing and so in some ways I’m happy this has happened to wake people up.”
Watch a clip from the interview below:
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