Mraz during a performance | Photo: Wikimedia/Steve Jurvetson
Singer Jason Mraz clarified recent rumors about his sexuality.
Last month, Mraz participated in Billboard’s tribute to Pride month. The media company asked a different celebrity every day of the month to write a letter to the LGBTQ community.
Mraz not only wrote a letter, but a poem as well. In it, he wrote the line: ‘I am bi your side.’ It quickly led to a lot of speculation about whether or not he had just come out as bisexual.
In a recent interview, once again with Billboard, he addressed the poem.
‘Honestly, I didn’t realize it was going to be so telling,’ he said. ‘But I’ve had experiences with men, even while I was dating the woman who became my wife. It was like, “Wow, does that mean I am gay?”‘
He continued, explaining that it was his wife, Christina Carano, who helped figure it out.
‘She calls it “two spirit,” which is what the Native Americans call someone who can love both man and woman. I really like that.’
It is important to note that the term Two-Spirit, as Mraz says, comes with the context and history of Native Americans, First Nation, and indigenous people.
The term most often describes indigenous people who occupy traditional third-gender ceremonial roles. It is not interchangeable with describing queer indigenous people, as it is more about the spirituality and ceremony.
Not his term to use
People on Twitter applauded Mraz’s coming out, but took issue with his use of the term Two-Spirit.
Love whomever you want but PLEASE do not use Two-Spirit unless you are Native-American/Indigenous! https://t.co/fWGcBULtw5 https://t.co/fWGcBULtw5
— ARCFierce (@ARCFierce) July 20, 2018
I think what @jason_mraz is saying is he’s bisexual. Sorry dear but two-spirit is reserved for folks who are actually Native American/Indigenous. https://t.co/HzAPlnCT6d
— Cameron Perrier (@CP_stylebook) July 20, 2018
Hi, Jason Mraz. “Two-spirit” is a Native American term, it is not yours to use (incorrectly), you very white man from Virginia. Please do just the bare minimum of research before you call yourself “two-spirit” again. https://t.co/FlrW6YfVdR
— nate (@olympia_dukakis) July 20, 2018
jason mraz apparently ids as two-spirit bc his wife erroneously told him that’s what native americans call all lgbtq people….. who’s gonna be the one to tell him
— adrian🥃 (@adrianicsea) July 20, 2018
@jason_mraz congratulations on coming out and welcome to the family! Though, tell your wife that that isn’t what two-spirit is, I’d rather have Native LGBTQ+ people explain it in detail, but it’s more like a revered 3rd gender and not a sexuality.https://t.co/e6RTEsHKwN
— Graham Friend Stokes (@grahamburgers) July 20, 2018
Almost giving up
Mraz also discussed in the interview how he nearly gave up on his music career in 2015.
‘I started to feel a little ridiculous. Like, “Why am I up here onstage saying, ‘Look at me’?” I didn’t have that moxie anymore.’
His stint in the Broadway musical Waitress earlier this year reinvigorated him. He continued his career, with the idea that he ‘could be of more service as the voice of optimism’.
About some of his new songs like, Have It All and Unlonely, he said: ‘That song is hard corn.’
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