American star Todrick Hall has praised the UK for its “open-minded nature”.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race star and choreographer will make his debut as a dance captain on BBC One’s The Greatest Dancer this weekend.
The 34-year-old told the February issue of Attitude Magazine: “One of the main reasons why I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being in the UK and why I want to move here is because I love (its) open-minded nature.
“Racism, homophobia and sexism are issues all over the world but I feel them less here. I put tickets on sale and the Palladium sells out because people are like, ‘We don’t care that he’s African, we don’t care what his sexual orientation is, we don’t care what his background is’.”
Hall first rose to fame when he competed on ninth series of reality TV singing competition American Idol, where he made it to the semi-finals. He is also a regular on the American series of RuPaul’s Drag Race, where he has appeared as a guest judge and choreographer on numerous occasions.
The Greatest Dancer, which returns on January 4, sees Hall join dance captains Cheryl, former Glee star Matthew Morrison and reigning Strictly Come Dancing champion Oti Mabuse.
He also spoke about his friendship with singer Taylor Swift and working alongside her as an executive producer for the music video of her song You Need To Calm Down.
The song earned Swift the video of the year award at last year’s Video Music Awards. It also criticises homophobia and features a number of well-known LGBTQ+ celebrities.
It also endorsed the Equality Act, which is a proposed piece of legislation that would enshrine into law protections for the LGBTQ+ community in the US.
Hall told Attitude: “One of my favourite things that I’ve done is to be a friend to Taylor and be able to help her realise that using her voice is a humongous instrument that is able to change the minds of those who, without her, may have never looked at gay people as actual people”.
He added: “She was talking one day about having kids and I asked her: ‘What would you do if your child was to tell you that they are gay?’ She looked at me and was like, ‘Then they would be gay. That would be no big deal. It’s not something that I would think about. I would love them and support them with whatever they wanted to do’. At that point, I pointed out: ‘It’s important that you let people know that you feel this way’. Taylor is just so about love.”
Attitude Magazine is available online and in print from January 3.