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Troye Sivan faces backlash for lack of body diversity in ‘Rush’ video

"There’s not a single fat person in the entire video. Just white twinks and chiseled bodies," said one viewer.

By Emily Maskell

Troye Sivan's album cover and mid-dance music video still.
Troye Sivan's 'Rush' faces backlash. (Images: Polydor Records)

Troye Sivan has been pulled up over the supposed lack of body diversity in the music video for his new track ‘Rush’, with Charli XCX subsequently sharing her thoughts on artistic “unspoken requirement.”

The 28-year-old Australian singer faced criticism on social media with the raunchy music video.

The discourse was kickstarted over the plethora of shirtless men and chiselled chests that appear in the music video. 

Many took to the internet to share their disappointment that the video focused heavily on stereotypically attractive bodies.

Charli XCX seemingly defended the singer, despite not naming Troye. However, she has collaborated with him on numerous occasions.

“i feel like we live in a world where audiences feel like expression or art isn’t worth their time unless it appeases every single unspoken requirement. IT IS SO BORING,” she wrote.

Furthermore, Charli added that if something is unconventional it’s labelled “weird” or “try hard.” Meanwhile, if it’s more aesthetically conforming it’s “offensive” and “not diverse enough.”

“I adore Troye Sivan, but this ‘Rush’ video is making me feel some type of way,” one viewer wrote on Twitter.

“There’s not a single fat person in the entire video.”

“It seems like a case study on how white gays choose to view queer people as a whole. There’s not a single fat person in the entire video. Just white twinks and chiseled bodies.”

They continued in another tweet: “It’s not that someone like Troye Sivan *has to* include diverse bodies in all his videos, it’s the fact that he chose to promote ‘Rush’ as this gay sex liberation anthem yet left out a massive chunk of the population he’s singing about? Why is critiquing that “boring discourse”?”

The music video has also been subjected to several memes joking about this situation.

Edited memes of Gemma Collins holding a sign that reads: “If you’re not thin you’re not coming in” were shared in relation to the music video casting.

Troye has announced that his new album Something To Give Each Other will be out on 13 October.