THE INSIDE STORY
JOHANNES RADEBE DANCE STAR STEPS UP TO BEAT THE HATERS
More known for his footwork than his campaigning, Strictly Come Dancing’s Johannes Radebe pledged his support for a different kind of movement when he took to Instagram to send a powerful message about discrimination. Posting an image from a photoshoot he did last year for Gay Times , there was nothing routine about the caption that accompanied the shot.
“The irony of being a black queer gay [man] standing in solidarity with your brothers and sisters against discrimination of any kind around the world, while at the same time having to watch your back because the same brothers and sisters can kill you because of your sexual preference,” he wrote.
Johannes, 33, whose same-sex dance with fellow pro Graziano Di Prima was one of the highlights of the last series of (right), has previously opened up about homophobia in his native South Africa. He told the how, aged 17, he was attacked at school by a fellow pupil wielding a baseball bat. “He was punishing me for the fact that I am what I am,” he said last November.
