Our first guest has been nominated
for seven Grammys, won four CMA awards,
and yesterday, he did something incredibly brave when
he publicly came out as gay.
From Brothers Osborne, please welcome T.J. Osborne.
Hey, Ellen.
Hi, T.J..
Thanks so much for being here.
It's so good to be here.
Just hearing you say that, just honestly,
it made me so emotional.
I'm trying not to cry on national television right now.
Yeah, I get it.
It's a very emotional thing for something
to keep shoved way, way down for a long time
and to finally be able to say--
even saying the sentence, when you say,
I'm gay, it's a weird sentence to come out of your mouth,
even though you've known it for a long time.
Because you don't think you're ever
going to say that sentence.
You're right.
It is weird to say.
And even in doing this, I noticed
when I addressed my Instagram account, just
to make a quick little video, even though I was coming out,
it still felt really odd to say it then.
And I think that's kind of the really beautiful thing of all
this for me is I've never really come out to very many people.
I've only done it to a few people.
Mainly, because I find it just really
awkward and uncomfortable.
So it has been a really wild experience
to have come out to very few people,
although, a lot of my friends and family
knew already, to then kind of come out
publicly in one big, foul swoop, which was, in some ways, nice.
In other ways, it has made for a very emotional day.
Yeah, oh, I'm sure it is.
It's just, I think, people don't understand.
Because, you know, it's something
that you're supposed to be ashamed of,
you're not supposed to say, you're not supposed to be.
And straight people don't ever have to shove something down
and all of a sudden say to someone, I'm straight.
You know, that's not an emotional thing.
You're exactly right, and that's what I was asked,
like, why do you have to do this?
And in a perfect world, I wish I didn't have to.
And I kind of told myself for a long time
that, if everything is equal here
and it's not that big of a deal, then why do I have to come out?
And unfortunately, it just isn't that way.
And I kind of got to this point to where
I knew there was really never going
to be the perfect time, and that,
really, honestly, now that I'm kind of behind it
now of coming out that it's so wild to me to think about,
really, the perfect time is always now, you know?
[APPLAUSE]
Honestly, I instantaneously felt-- thank you.
I instantaneously felt like I wish I
had done this a long time ago.
Yeah, well, you know, of course, people say that.
Because it feels so freeing when you finally do it,
and to not have any secrets, and to not feel shame
about yourself, which is the most important thing.
Absolutely.
But, you know, the time is right now for you.
But yeah, if you really start thinking about it
and you're thinking, well, when is the right time?
It's never the right time, unless you say, now,
it's the right time.
But it's because you're in country music,
and I think that's a genre that is more difficult, it seems,
than any other music.
Why do you think that is?
I think country really comes from a lot of rural roots
that are a lot of kind of Christianity
and a lot of kind of old school way of thinking.
And I really think that's changed a lot over the years,
and I know it's changed a lot over the years.
And I'm really kind of--
I'm curious to see how it all plays out with us going
into rural America, you know?
I feel pretty confident going into places,
like LA, and going to Chicago, and playing here in Nashville,
where I live.
I'm curious to see how it is in kind of the more
rural counties and such.
And part of me, you know, I've been--
the other thing just to touch on what you said earlier, Ellen, I
think not only is it a weight off of my shoulders
to kind of tell my truth.
But I don't think--
I expected a wave of love from family and friends.
And I did not expect it to feel the way it felt,
and I think it's one thing when you just know and assume
people love you.
And it's different when you hear it
and when you hear it with sincerity.
And right now, I feel so incredibly loved.
And it's one of those things, where I'm like, God,
I wish that I could share this with other people and to feel
this way.
And then to have people that I never even
expected to say anything reaching out to me, people
that I feel like personify masculinity
and straight culture to the Nth degree, who are coming out
with a lot of pride for me.
And it really is one of those things.
That was really the moment to me that made me feel like,
wow, that was there the whole time.
And yeah, I think there are some people out there that there's
a lot of hurdles clearly with people
that don't like gay people.
I mean, it's just a thing.
But in some respects, I do feel like maybe
through my insecurities, I've built it
up to maybe be a bigger hurdle than it really
was the whole time.
Well, I think what you just said is right.
There are going to be people who just have strong opinions,
and you can't change their minds.
And that's who they are, but you know,
I think they're-- especially when you say that a lot
of Christians, it is all about loving people and loving one
another.
So I think you're going to have a lot of Christians
that are going to love you and accept you for who you are.
Because they should, because that's the Christian way.
But I'm just so proud of you, and I just wish everyone--
because as we know, there are a lot of people in every field
and sport.
And I just wish everybody could do it,
because it would help a lot of people
out there that are struggling.
And you're going to help a whole lot of people,
a lot of young boys that want to be in country music and say,
I don't know how to do that.
You're a huge role model now, so I love talking to you.
Thank you so much.
When we get live music in the studio,
again, please come back.
You and your brother, all right?
I would love that.
All right, thank you so much.
Hi, I'm Andy.
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[SCREAM]
Ah, [BLEEP]!
God [BLEEP].