Jaymi Hensley | Photo: Instagram/jaymihensley
Jaymi Hensley, the openly gay member of Union J, has responded to criticism of the boyband’s latest video shoot.
The 28-year-old and his bandmates were in Dubai, the largest city in the UAE, for the shoot this week.
Homosexuality in the UAE carries a range of punishments, up to death under Sharia Law.
After Jaymi posted an Instagram picture of himself in front of the city skyline, one critic made their feelings clear.
‘I just simply can’t het my head round an LGBT person contributing financially to a country that would torture you for just holding your partners [sic] hand,’ said a commenter.
They furthermore added: ‘They’ll take your money but strip you of your rights. Go somewhere you recognized [sic] as human and find their economy.’
‘The world belongs to no man!
Jaymi, 28, came back with a passionate counterargument.
‘As an LGBT person I refuse to be confined where I can and can’t go!’ he said.
He furthermore continued: ‘Regardless of law religion sexuality the world belongs to no man! We were there to shoot a music video so if any body is contributing financial [sic] it is Dubai to our musical journey, sometimes in life we aren’t able to always call ten shots on where life takes us, but I for one am not someone who is going to sit home and hide because of rhetoric views.’
‘Dubai didn’t fund it – we did’
GSN contacted Union J’s management to clarify what Jaymi meant by ‘if any body is contributing financial [sic] it is Dubai to our musical journey’, and to ask whether the Dubai government had funded the video shoot.
‘Dubai didn’t fund it – we did as a band,’ Jaymi told us. ‘It just meant that if the video is a success, part of it will be down to Dubai’s scenery and the look of the video.’
Jaymi has been open about his sexuality since Union J first found fame on the 2012 series of The X Factor in the UK.
The band, which formally included bisexual star George Shelly, have scored top 10 hits including Carry You and You Got It All.
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