YouTube sensation Mikey Bustos let his true colors shine true as he publicly came out as a proud member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
The 37-year-old Filipino-Canadian comedian earlier posted on his Instagram account two photos of him with his manager who turned out to be his lover, RJ Garcia, while having their vacation in a beach in Puerto Galera.
The first photo was captioned, “Happy Easter! #NewLife,” while “Freedom” was written on the second one. An emoji of a rainbow flag was also included in the caption of the two posts.
On Tuesday, April 23, Mikey shared a shirtless photo of him with a sticker of rainbow sunglasses, to which the stream of colors symbolizes the LGBT community.
“Life is sweet!” Mikey begins his heartfelt message to his supporters whom he thanked for their “outpouring” love. Mikey said it never crossed his mind that he will receive a huge amount of support sent from “all corners of cyberspace, media, and the world.”
“Figuring out how to navigate life in the most authentic and positive way has been such a long +37 yr journey for me, and at this moment, I feel I’ve reached some kind of karmic jackpot!” Mikey happily shared.
He continued, “It’s 2019 (as my dad put it when I came out to him a few weeks ago), and a great time to be alive LGBT. #FilipinoPRIDE“
The comment section of Mikey’s post overflowed with messages of support from his followers and friends including comedienne Rufa Mae Quinto, Filipino-American singer AJ Rafael, Filipino-American dancer Dominic Sandoval or popularly know as D-Trix, and Erwan Heussaff.
On Twitter, Mikey shared it was through writing songs that helped him express what he truly felt during those times when he was still hiding in the closet.
“To help me cope, I wrote so many songs about being bisexual/gay/closeted in my two albums, e.g. If It Feels Good Then We Should, Secret Affair, Suspended, Every Time My Heart Beats,” he said.
He added, “I was so looking forward to the day I could explain what those songs were really about, and hoped it could help someone who was in the same position as myself at the time.”
Mikey, who competed in the reality television show Canadian Idol, rose in popularity through his song parodies and other hilarious videos that feature Filipinos culture and tradition.