Isaiah Rashad comes out as sexually fluid following video leak
The rapper addressed his sexuality and his leaked sex tape in the latest episode of The Joe Budden Podcast
Words: Emily Maskell
Isaiah Rashad has addressed his sexuality for the first time since a sex tape leaked in February allegedly outed him, sharing that he identifies as “sexually fluid.”
The 31-year-old American rapper was the latest guest on The Joe Budden Podcast (27 May), discussing his upbringing, new music and how he coped with the vulnerability that followed the sex tape leak that saw him having sexual encounters with men.
“I’m still learning about it myself,” Rashad told Budden, sharing that coming to terms with his sexuality has been a gradual experience over the past couple of years. “I’m putting my head in the books to find out the basics of it, but basically, like, I’m not in full control of, when I walk into a room, of who I’m attracted to.
He goes on to share that he feels comfortable with the label of sexually fluid, stating that the people he dated in the past don’t dictate who he now feels attracted to as an adult: “I’m more so attracted to a personality, and I’m attracted to the intellect. And sometimes it’s just being attracted to somebody.”
Rashad also reflects on how he feels now the dust has settled; he implies he has moved on from the controversy and “[hasn’t] even been thinking about it,” instead, focusing on the “brighter side of stuff.”
He does reveal that the initial days following the leak were the hardest, but he notes that he knew he was going to have “to somebody, or talk about it, or people were just going to ask me stuff… And I had to know, in that moment, I had to be OK with it.”
“Out of everything, it’s been a blessing that with that happening, and my grandad dying a couple of days afterwards, and my grandma going through what she’s going through, it’s been a concentration of family together, more than they had been before. So if anything, I can’t be mad at everything about it,” he continues.
Rashad also told Budden he is not currently seeking legal action against the person who leaked the tapes.
While speaking to Budden is the first time Rashad has explicitly discussed the sex tape, his Coachella 2022 set opened with a multimedia collage of fellow musicians encouraging and supporting Rashad following the outing.
Isaiah Rashad’s intro video at Coachella: “The purpose of doing that was to embarrass him. However, that backfired. When his video leaked, his dreams and everything went up.” pic.twitter.com/xnPUzuftmT
— Pigeons & Planes (@PigsAndPlans) April 17, 2022
“The purpose of doing that was to embarrass him. However, that backfired. When his video leaked, his dreams and everything went up. He’s up on the charts now,” one person can be seen saying.