Khalid celebrated Pride Month over the weekend, performing at WorldPride DC’s 2025 Free Street Festival & Closing Concert. He was overcome with emotion, as evidenced by a video posted via Pride 365 Radio’s Instagram page.
While on stage, Khalid stood for a moment and began to get teary-eyed as the crowd cheered him on and chanted his name.
Here’s what Khalid said on stage at his first Pride show
“These are happy tears,” Khalid said after soaking in the monumental moment. “This is my first time performing at Pride. This is my first time being at Pride. That s**t got me choked up, oh my god.”
“Before I continue, I want to thank you guys so much for accepting me and supporting me,” he added. “It means the world to me. It makes me so happy. I feel like I’m home here on the stage and that’s really big. And I didn’t know I was going to cry.”
Khalid’s ex outed him last fall
This was a full-circle moment after Khalid’s ex-boyfriend, Hugo D. Almonte outed him last fall. As Blavity reported, Almont had posted a photo of him with Khalid via X, formerly Twitter. That same day, Almonte alleged that Khalid plotted to make him the culprit of a robbery.
In response, Khalid posted a four-minute video to address Almonte’s claims made, which he called false. He also clarified that his sexual orientation was never something he was ashamed of.
“I wasn’t hiding anything! It’s just not any of your business,” Khalid tweeted.
Later, Almonte apologized for outing Khalid. According to Out magazine, Khalid expressed his gratitude for his fans, saying that their connection hasn’t changed since he was outed.
“I’m singing these songs that — I was obviously gay when I wrote them, but the world may not have known,” he told Out. “Everybody is singing them the same way they were before I was outed! So [that shows me] none of my fans care about my sexual preferences. I think they care about our mutual respect for music.”