{"id":13013,"date":"2024-07-03T10:43:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T10:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=13013"},"modified":"2024-07-03T10:43:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T10:43:39","slug":"news-anchor-bravely-comes-out-as-gay-in-middle-of-live-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=13013","title":{"rendered":"News anchor bravely comes out as gay in middle of live broadcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Hackett said he felt like a weight had been ‘lifted’<\/h2>\n

A Minnesota news anchor has spoken out after he surprised viewers by coming out as gay in the middle of a live broadcast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jason Hackett, who works for KARE 11\u2019s\u00a0Sunrise<\/em>\u00a0show, has been with his partner for five years, but he always kept his\u00a0relationship<\/a> out of the public eye.<\/p>\n

Hackett’s co-workers and friends knew he was gay, but he’d struggled with sharing the news with his\u00a0parents<\/a>\u00a0who are from Jamaica, a country that he describes as not especially ‘LGTBQ<\/a>+-friendly’.<\/p>\n

He tried three times to tell them he was gay, but it wasn’t until he showed them a picture of his boyfriend that the news really began to set in for them.<\/p>\n

Still, in an\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0with Today Hackett assured he’s never been in any doubt that his parents love him.<\/p>\n

However, he always chose to keep his sexuality a secret from his audience – until recently.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Hackett<\/div>\n

Hackett began working at Sunrise since last year. (Instagram\/@jasonhackettnews)<\/cite><\/div>\n

In May, Hackett decided to come out to the world live on air.<\/p>\n

He recalled the big moment and admitted he was full of nerves before making his announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a moment where I was like, \u2018Oh my God, am I really going to do this?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWhen that red light came on, my heart was beating through my chest.”<\/p>\n

But in spite of his nerves, ‘the words started flowing’.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0broadcast<\/a>, Hackett admitted that he was ‘so nervous’ as he told viewers that coming out to people was ‘never easy’ for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no doubt the most people I\u2019ve ever come out to at once. But what me\u2026 and everyone here on \u2018Sunrise<\/em>\u2019 strive for, is authenticity. And I can\u2019t preach that without being my authentic self.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Hackett<\/div>\n

Hackett said a weight had been lifted when he came out. (KARE11)<\/cite><\/div>\n

He continued: \u201cFor anyone that is watching this now, who is struggling to find acceptance, or struggling with their family or friends, take it from me, a gay Black son of immigrants, the road may not be easy, I won\u2019t lie to you and say that it is \u2014 but don\u2019t worry, keep going. You\u2019re going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hacket received support from his co-host Alicia Lewis and meteorologist John Zeigler at the time, and he’s since received messages from\u00a0all over the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders,\u201d Hackett said. \u201cI was so relieved.<\/p>\n

“It feels like gay people are constantly coming out to new people \u2014 you come out to your barber, and your butcher \u2014 and it\u2019s scary every single time. Now that I\u2019ve come out to the entire world, I don\u2019t have to worry anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having learned from his own experiences, Hackett is now assuring other people in similar positions to keep looking forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it feels like to think, \u2018I\u2019m never going to find acceptance. I have to change who I am or I\u2019m going to have to hide forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Live freely and love openly and be proud of who you are. It really does get better.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Hackett said he felt like a weight had been ‘lifted’ A Minnesota news anchor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":205,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}