X Factor decide Robbie Williams has been taken to process for a comment he made whereas judging a trans contestant on the present over the weekend. Twenty-year-old contestant Felix Shepherd took to the stage on the Saturday night time broadcast of the longstanding actuality competitors, performing a rendition of Kodaline’s “All I Want” to rousing applause. But the interplay between Shepherd and the pop star beforehand proved to be troubling to some X Factor viewers.
“I’m here to prove people that I’m more than just a transgender guy and we can be kind of overlooked, I suppose,” Shepherd stated after introducing himself to the judges. “I’m just an everyday kind of person.”
“So, when you were born, what was your name?” requested the onetime Take That frontman, occurring to later ask the contestant when he knew his identification.
Some viewers took the questioning as an invasion of privateness, whereas others had been offended that the X Factor decide pressured a contestant to disclose his start identify — also referred to as “deadnaming” — on nationwide tv. “has No-one told Robbie Williams it’s considered pretty darn rude to ask someone’s birth name? That’s quite an on-the-spot situation to be put in, having to explain oneself,” remarked one Twitter user.
#XFactor okay so Felix is beautiful and I’m actually proud to see one other trans particular person on the TV, however has No-one informed Robbie Williams it is thought of fairly darn impolite to ask somebody’s start identify? That’s fairly an on-the-spot scenario to be put in, having to clarify oneself.
— Alexandra (@alex_staddon) September 8, 2018
Shepherd took no offense to the query, in response to a tweet after the episode aired. “I just wanted to say that I was in no way offended by Robbie’s question but, I do realise everyone is different!” Shepherd tweeted on Sunday. “Thanks for all the support.”
Read Shepherd’s tweet under:
I simply needed to say that I used to be on no account offended by Robbie’s query however, I do realise everyone seems to be completely different!
Thanks for all of the assist —— Felix Shepherd (@felixjshepherd) September 9, 2018
