Sauti Sol singer on being Kenya’s first openly gay pop star - Lives Less Ordinary, BBC World Service

Willis Chimano is one of Kenya’s biggest pop stars. With the boyband Sauti Sol, he’s won a string of awards and even danced with President Barack Obama. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM But behind the success, Chimano had a secret: being gay in a country where gay sex is criminalised and people who identify as LGBT+ can experience violence and harassment. Since his childhood, Chimano had been hiding his sexuality but then in 2018 he was outed. Suddenly his career stood its toughest test as he was caught in a media frenzy and dealing with exposure that threatened to derail his entire life - and his relationship with his conservative family. But Chimano emerged from the storm as role model for LGBT+ people, becoming Kenya’s most famous openly gay singer. His memoir Heavy is the Crown will be released in 2026. Regarding Chimano's account of what happened with the Nairobi police, we approached them for comment and didn't get a response. 00:00 Coming up 00:33 Intro 01:11 Growing up in Nairobi 01:51 Mother’s awareness of his sexuality and being in the closet 04:42 Finding escape through music 07:16 How boyband Sauti Sol was born 09:05 Singing in front of Barack Obama 11:30 Coming out to his bandmates 13:30 Being outed by the media 17:01 Homophobic threats on social media 19:47 Homophobic attacks 21:23 Acceptance of being gay 23:04 Denial and forgiveness 24:17 Parents reaction 27:40 Performance cancellation 30:49 Being a role model in Kenya 32:15 Outro Watch more from Lives Less Ordinary on our YouTube playlist 👉🏽    • Lives Less Ordinary   Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Maryam Maruf and June Christie Video producer: Beatrice Guzzardi Cover photo credit: Ian Seth ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Twitter 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Facebook 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #WorldService #sautisol #kenya #willischimano