Very interesting to hear the perspective from the reporter interviewing Billie. The interview felt like a natural conversation, and so the post afterwards seemed somehow harsh.

The way Tiana handled the situation and talks about the situation is very mature and respectful. That's how it should be🙏

Context for those who are lost: In the Variety article, Billie literally says the following about women: "I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real". She quite literally comes out as being attracted to women-- she even reinforces that. During the interview on the red carpet, Tiana, as a journalist and reporter, giddily pokes at that comment and asks the big "did you mean to come out?" question. Billie, disappointed that her sexuality was discussed at all on that red carpet, then writes "thanks variety... for outing me". I definitely agree that the use of "outing" is inappropriate here-- Tiana did not pull Billie out of the closet, she just did the typical opportunistic reporter thing and followed up on a juicy topic that Billie herself discussed during the interview. Billie was uncomfortable with talking about this on the red carpet and would have preferred to discuss her career (as Shannon mentioned, she probably felt very exposed and vulnerable). However, I also sense a lot of privilege in Billie's response to all of this. On IG, she wrote "i like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares". Some of us didn't have the luxury of growing up and not caring or obsessing about our sexuality and everyone else's. We craved queer content, we craved acceptance, and every celebrity "coming out" was reassurance that there was nothing wrong with us. Billie seems to have grown up in a more accepting family and corner of the world, which is very fortunate for her (and I hope we can all be privileged like this in our lifetimes!), but is not the experience of other queerfolk in the US or in other parts of the world. To her, it doesn't matter-- it's nothing to dwell on and it changes nothing about her. To others, it means the world. All that aside, we are so very lucky to witness young people who are able to grow up like this. We've come such a long way. It may mean we have our clashes every now and then, but wow, what a breath of fresh air that this is a type of privilege that can now be held!

i remember seeing the interview and billie’s post afterwards and being so sad for the reporter bc she would receive so much unnecessary hate for something she’s not to blame for. very unfortunate situation. but she seems like a great person who handled the situation very well.

This is the representation the queer community deserved. Handled the situation with grace and respect unlike that impulsive instagram post. ❤

Totally see where Tiana is coming from & understand her perspective. She handled it with grace & respect. I'm really enjoying these podcasts Shannon!!

I love you so much! I still tear up when you share your story and stories of other people’s experiences, good or bad. I’m always hopeful for the future. I loved your guest, Tiana.❤

i was also outed in very non consensual traumatic ways as a young teenager and it is really fucking awful. hearing Billie call that situation as being outed was frustrating to me and i really agree on Shanons take about it. it’s dangerous language to use in regards to that scenario.

I actually didn't know this had become an issue until I saw this podcast. I think what Billie meant was that she got so much attention about her sexuality that it overshadowed her new album and music and that's why she said "it doesn't matter". She and all queer people are so much more than just their sexuality. Maybe she also felt 'outed' because she remembers the conversations differently and feels like it was a small part of her interviews but for some reason it became a huge thing that she no longer felt comfortable and felt nervous. I see both sides. Tiana did not force anything either.

I have a 12-year-old and we live in a large progressive Canadian city. Her and her friends have a hard time understanding the "big deal" about coming out. As an experience it doesn't exist for them, they are all open from a young age. Obviously it's important for her to know other people have different experiences but also it gives me hope for the future.

Tiana is sooo precious I'm so glad she got to share her side of the story, she handled eveything with so much grace. RESPECT.

Great interview Shannon. I never realized there was any controversy about the Billie Eilish interview or Variety story, I never even saw her post about being outed. Obviously she wasn’t outed, but something must have happened with her label or publicist after the red carpet interview because to me it just doesn’t make any sense. I think Tiana interview seemed more like Billie felt comfortable in the moment and brought it up herself and again afterwards somebody got to her and made her feel unsafe or unsure somehow.

As someone who lives in a country where society still considers homosexuality an alien concept and someone who is out to the people close to me but not allowed to be "out" out because my family isn't ready to handle the stress of that yet, I cannot put in words how much solace conversations like this bring to me. Just listening to people talk about being gay in, both, ways I can relate to and ways I hope to be able to relate to in the future, makes me feel like I'm not as alone as I tend to think I am. So yes, conversations like this are very important and they DO matter. This podcast is quickly becoming the highlight of my week ❤

“Everything would be bad but I would be safe” as little Shan speaks volumes.

Kudos to Tiana. I felt you handled the situation in a mature and professional manner. Representation is critical to the path of normalizing, so yes it's unfortunate when someone with a platform as huge as Eilish back-pedals. Just an aside here; as a 63 year-old lesbian, it's very funny to me to hear 31 year-old Shanon refer to herself as "old and bitter." Anyway this was a terrific conversation. Thoroughly enjoying Shannon's channel even though I'm probably not the target demographic.

I love knowing that the context for those variety interviews were casual and positive!!

Loving this conversation, so genuine and validating, thank you :) x

Hi Shannon, so nice having you back ❤ Watching this to celebrate the end of Xmas 2023 and that I survived the annual family lunch 😬 Looking forward to more podcasts episodes and other content from you in 2024 ❤

i really loved this conversation, you guys talked about it with such grace. i think the whole situation just kind of shows what a confusing time we’re in rn bc some people want to be able to just exist in their queerness without having to talk about it in depth/over-analyzing it, but there’s also such an importance in having those conversations still. and many people don’t have the luxury of just being able to just simply exist as a queer person.

Her response rubbed me the wrong way. You can't "out" someone who said they thought that everyone knew. Her literal words and not mine. She needs to pick a lane and stick to it. No pressure to come out or label yourself at all, but if you're gonna do it, then you don't need to be casual in front of the interviewer and then running your mouth on social media. It's confusing

Another wonderful episode. A guest I did not expect but found v interesting. Great job hosting here! ❤❤

it would be sick to get The Aces on here! especially with that last album.

"We are for the gays!" I really hope one day the world says that.

Omg Shannon, Bringing the tea! I really needed this follow-up interview about what happened. Thank you for bringing this follow-up conversation about! I think we all needed this! 💚🙏

Once again another awesome topic and relatable!! Words do matter! We matter!! Much love and respect ✊ ❤

Thank you Tiana for sharing your perspective as a reporter in this situation. Your demeanour is so respectful and gracious and you handle the situation with complete maturity. Expressing your point of view without any malice or ill-will demonstrates your true character as a decent human being. You’re a consummate professional doing your job, and doing it well!

This podcast was amazing! Thank you both😊

Loved the perspective from the reporters point of view

Loved this episode shan ❤ such a great conversation!!!

This was a really really great conversation, loving this podcast a lot so far Shannon 🥰

This podcast was wonderful. Tiana was so articulate and clear on what happened in the Billie interview. I'm so happy to hear Variety has backed her up! Yay for queer reporters creating safe spaces! I'm sorry that Billie felt regret about what she said but I loved the conversation about what that means in a broader sense in the community. So good Shannon ⭐

The whole notion that society will be this utopia of gays being accepted and being no big deal is funny when people say that. Maybe in 500 years as Shannon said. But if r@cism is still around today, why do we think homophobia will be non existent? Anyways appreciated hearing from Tiana her perspective. Having the conversation leads to representation and rep helps normalize our queer community to the world, esp in the mainstream.

Great episode. Very important. Thank you!

This was such a great conversation between you two. Both of y'all are awesome. Thank you

Loved hearing this perspective…so excited for this podcast Shannon! 😌

i see both sides. i think its very interesting to get to know tianas perspective on this whole situation. i felt like she was very respectful and supportive in the interview but you never know what the other person thinks. billie probably felt uncomfortable bc she never wanted to have a public "coming out". she just wants to live. however, in the interview, billie was kind of pushed to address the whole coming out situation. its valid for her to feel how she feels. however i agree that billie accusing tiana of "outing" her was not right. she should've used a different vocabulary because that's not what happened - tiana did not out her.

tiana's voice sounds so sweet. love her❤

Another fantastic episode! You are the light that this world needs……. Keep on being the light and shine bright!

yeaaa when I saw Billies post I was like.... girl plzzzzzzzz'

Loving these podcasts! Makes me wanna talk about my sexuality more than ever! Like you, Shannon, I never thought I’d come out… I thought I’d be alone forever! Just celebrated my 10th anniversary with my lady! Thank you for this… and maybe, someday, I’ll be on KZfaq, sharing queer content! 🎉

Great job with the interview Shannon, I loved the conversation. I only hope you can recognize how pushing 'lesbian waking up other day and falling in love with man' narative can be harmful to whole lesbian community, just fueling the men narative that lesbians just didn't meet right guy and not leaving us alone, not taking us serious etc. While the case with girl above would be that she was never lesbian but bisexual. I think it's important to note that. P.s. hoping you'd allow more questions from public on podcast

Loving this podcast so far 💘

I loved this conversation, especially the second half. Gay people discussing things only other gay people get. If you’re not gay, you really just don’t get it. Also nice to see the progress Tiana has made, I used to listen to her podcast She. And I’m pretty sure she wasn’t comfortable with the word gay then, but seems more comfortable now and in her queer identity in general, so yay! So nice to see!

Hi Shannon 😊 Beautiful episode 👏

I want all weeks to have only Wednesgays!

Billie's reps probably had her change...And she got scared.

Who's here after lunch came out?

Loved this ep

Such an important conversation. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and stories ❤️💪🏼

Why are people commenting without reading the full print article, watching the interview then reading billies insta post? Billie was in the wrong, but I put it down to her being young and reckless, I know in the future once she gets older and matures, she will apologise to Tiana personally, there’s a 10+ year age gap here and she has a lot more to learn in her next 10 years

I do get both sides of this but here is my only thing about this is that Billie is a young person who is probably just truly exploring these feelings. When I first heard you say that she had just said girls were pretty but she was scared of them, I didn't think that was immediately a green flag to talk about her sexuality. I am not queer though so maybe that is why I don't catch that a queer thing to say. Now, I do believe that everyone is on a spdctrum. I have never met anyone who says that the other people of the same sex are just so ugly. So in my opinion, it may have been a hopeful leap that this young person was really ready to talk about it. I know it seemed like an "easy conversation" but if someone stopped me on a carpet and held on to me saying girls were pretty, I might feel a little cornered. Especially it being a queer person asking me . Which I feel like is something the company meant to do. It seems like there was some manipulation of the situation by the powers that be. Send the queer interviewer to speak to the possibly queer young lady so that she feels more comfortable to talk about this hot topic. Its just important to have complete awareness that other people are not in the same spot in their journey as you are or night wish they were. I think "outed" was the wrong word but I'm thinking she more dealt manipulated into talking.

I feel bad dont second guess yourself when interviewing others she made the mistake not you. It was misleading of her to have the conversation, then turn it around and say you outed her.

Awesome!

The short hair = boy thing has always irked me.. probably ever since I was misgendered a lot after cutting my hair short when I was 10. Ever since then, I have always been so concerned with having longer hair it's maybe a little ridiculous. I love Shannon's haircut, and I feel like it is helping me realize that short hair can be very attractive on women. Thank you for helping.my internalized short-hairphobia. It is so encouraging to hear you being so chill about the misgendering thing. I gotta get a hold of myself.

I always just remember that she is 21, everyone was just trying to do their best on both sides. Those of us who are neutral see both sides.

Thank you Shannon just for being you, for being real and transparent when you talk, for being a queer representation that i need in my life 🫶🏼

Loved it ❤! But doesn´t the say go like this: one step forward and two steps backwards? Since you feel like things are going for the better but then something happens and it feels like instead of going forward and advancing you are actually going backwards 😅.

I love that intro song, so sweet and timeless 😊

Shannon, you have literally been the staple of LGBT representation since 2011 tumblr days. It was the first time, I saw someone who had the same thoughts and feelings as I did. At 31 years old, I still look up to you and love hearing your experiences. I hope you realize the impact you have made for queer women everywhere. 🩵

I get called a guy all the time and I have long hair. Specially when I was working. I stopped caring though and just rolled with it. When i was in college and someone asked what my name was, they thought I said Shane haha.. I tried to correct them and then I was like, nah. I wont see then again so its okay haha.

I have to wonder, in regard to the Billie eilish outing thing, if maybe she is just wholly uneducated on what that term means? If she’s not surrounded by queer people educating her, she may not know it’s a triggering word. Billie may have just used it in the context of outed= “they shared my coming out” without intending a derogatory meaning? Just trying to give her the benefit of the doubt since many of our younger queers are uneducated and separated from historical queer language and semantics

I felt so connected to what Shannon say: we didn’t have that queer representation on media like gen z are rn. I know we still have a long way to go through but I’m so happy they are getting it and we as older gays (haha) are getting it too at least at our age ❤ also talking about fluidity in our sexuality is so important!

Loves it!🤩

Disappointing response on billie’s end, when listened to like this your explanation makes a lot of sense, you definitely didn’t out her.

I always get a laugh when people use Nebraska as a symbol for a lack of queer representation because they're not entirely wrong but the gays do exist here and we exist fiercely

And if they dont i will tell them love this one so far!! 😂

Billie never said “I’m queer,” or “come out,” etc. so Tiana shouldn’t have put those words in her mouth or assumed she was coming out officially.

I checked out her insta. The fact that ppl think that Tiana and her wife are sisters is insane. Lol.

I feel like Tiana has more self-reflection work to do in regards to what happened with Billie. Not judging, we all do. I just hope she understands how sensitive and delicate this process is. I appreciate how Shannon you shared your own experience trying to show the seriousness of this.

happy holiday❤

“gayer than ever” IM DEAD

Such an informative episode. I think it shone a light on how representation matters & the your experiences in the world. More than anything, it would be nice if more people were understanding of others. So being yourself as a queer person can be normalised without the fear we carry around

I think a lot of people were surprised with the post after the interview.

It did feel like Tiana a little bit pulled Billie out of the closet. Billie clearly had not made her mind up to come out at that moment and in this video too you can see how focused Tiana is on the community less on Billie as a human. It is as tho having Billie as a queer rolemodel is more important than how she wants to live her life, or what level of information is comfortable for her. I believe a lot of queer fans, including me, really wanted Billie to come out and we got it. She got bruised on the way tho, it wasn´t HER timing, it was ours. As a sensitive person, it is really easy for me to see how at a event like that I could get flustered and say more than I necessarily meant to and how the reality of the situation would hit after the event. I do believe Billie was too harsh in her post about Tiana and the interview. Facts are that Tiana asked: Did you mean to come out...? and I think we should just not be asking that from people on like red carpet events(there`s a time and place for deeper confessions, that is not it) If you listen to Billie's music, it's quite clear that she is a very sensitive person. The sudden number of fans unfollowing her account after her coming out was probably really scary and painful. Its frustrating that you keep saying in the video that everything was fine... that is your guys perspective. She was clearly not fine. As someone thats been out for a while too, I think we can forget how scary coming out can be.

I am so happy this podcast took place, I felt so bad for Tiana when billie used the word outing when it was information she offered, someone with her influence shouldn’t be using that word loosely, it was very sad to see as an out and proud lesbian. Particularly as we see billie Elisha really lean into queer aesthetics for her to be so disgusted by that side of her is offensive I feel, especially as it seems like she runs with an accepting crowd and family, I guess it could be internalised homophobia but it’s wild

as someone who is still in the closet, thank you shannon for this conversation

It could be that I'm being a bit conspiratorial, but do you think the word "outed" was used to be hurtful to Tiana knowing that she is part of the LGBT community and it is obviously very personal? I'm sure that being accused of outing someone when you yourself battled coming out and know the struggle, would be awful. Either way I suppose it is not very nice answering questions truthfully and not be able to orchestrate you're own coming out, I don't think Tiana did anything wrong but I can understand Billie being upset that she wasn't in control of her own coming out. It's a difficult and confusing one. 🤔

i don't think billie was calling out tiana, rather variety, for outing her. she didn't mention tiana at all in her ig caption. the internet connected those dots. it's not billie's fault that the internet will miss the point. that's what the internet is best at. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irddi6V20d6lkoE.html&pp=ygURYmlsbGllIGVpbGlzaCB0bXo%3D this tmz podcast has a little segment about the situation and it's interesting to hear the discussion about from the interviewer perspective, basically admitting that the boss would be disappointed if tiana didn't come back with this scoop. also remember that variety had this exchange posted on all platforms within minutes. they knew what they were doing all along.

Let’s all follow Billie to prove its worth being queer and remind her and her haters how big we are ❤❤

Okay, so... I need clarification. This episode was wonderful in many ways but just one part does not sit right with me (so here I am in the comments lol). The podcast talks about the term "coming out" as a trigger word and how it can be damaging to use, especially for people not ready. I completely agree with this and believe coming out looks different for everyone. *However! Tiana's red carpet comment to Billie Eilish was, "did you mean to come out in this story?" When all Billie Eilish said was, "I'm still scared of them but I think they are pretty." I have a hard time sitting here with Tiana using the word "coming out" in response to Billie's vague comment. It would of been helpful for Tiana to address this part of the conversation in this podcast episode. Tiana did not acknowledge that she used the word "coming out" first in the red carpet interview. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Love to collab with you! But I am in Canada haha

Please please bring Zoë on with you!!

I agree with her but I also think Billie when saying it doesn’t matter was referring to people constantly speculating about her sexuality and honestly stereotyping lesbians. I don’t think she’s wrong for wanting to focus on the music idk 🤷🏼‍♀️

Can you have Deb on the show.

Take a moment to think about a 16 year old girl or boy, who think they are gay. It must be a painful feeling. Who are they going to tell? What will be their parent"s reaction ? what will be their friends reaction? No wonder that suicide attemps are so frequents. Where are they going to get help?

my fiancee and i have gotten mother/daughter once, sisters, and best friends. and we are different races lol.

💜💜

❤

We shouldn't even feel ashamed of saying we love/like someone, regarding of their gender . Specially if we are independent grown ups in a free country ... We should totally normalize it as a community, I understand some people are vulnerable to DV, but this was not the case

As been someone from the gen of queer been a slur the word is very annoying

did you see Billie on the THR roundtable?

From the short clip I've seen online without context I've been surprised here. I thought the Billie Eilish interviewer was a straight woman just getting a little over excited 😅

I’ve been misgendered ever since I was young. I remember one time I had just gotten my hair cut SUPER short (pixie haircut) and went into the bathroom. This lady was like telling me that I was in the wrong bathroom. Number one I’m a girl and number 2 mind your fckin business lady 🙄

Album promo ...making the rounds.?

She is married. She is married. She is married. Don’t have crush on a married woman 😭😭😭😭

😎😃😊😜😍😘💖

Billie was a clown for claiming she was outed

Is someone tagging Billie? lol.

I don’t like the way Tiana spoke about this here. She minimized or completely invalidated Billie’s feelings and didn’t try to understand why she may have felt that way. It seemed that she was piling shame onto Billie because her truth wasn’t what Tiana wanted. Not cool. It’s fair to feel that it was unjustified and not understand why it happened and speak on that, but it’s not ok to diminish another persons personal perspective on what happened. She went too far in silencing and shaming Billie.

I mean really l try not to “guess” people’s sexuality based on stereotypes especially… but but my gaydar has gone off when it comes to Billie since she was 16. Don’t all of us come out and then go “OH MY GOD WHAT DID I JUST ADMIT OUT LOUD!” You know her PR team had something to do with her two steps “out,” one step back in the closet! Whether she is Bi or gay.. it’s sad she has to constantly filter it though the perceived reaction of the public and it’s consequences will be!