Is Drake gay? Let’s unpack all of the online evidence
2024 has been a tumultuous year for Drake. He was crowned Spotify’s most-streamed rapper, was embroiled in some pretty dramatic beef with Kendrick Lamar, his nudes were leaked, and he may or may not have gone through a midlife crisis. Plus, quite rightly, no-one is letting it slide that there remains to be a long list of alleged predatory behaviour towards teens following the rapper everywhere he goes. But, this aside, while 2024 might have brought along some new headlines for Drake, there’s one old and persistent internet rumour it seems the Canadian artist just can’t shake—and it’ll likely follow him into 2025. I am of course talking about the question of the century: Is Drake gay?
Now, while I’m not usually one to indulge or entertain theories and discussions regarding a celebrity’s sexuality, it is interesting to see just how incredibly invested people are in Drake’s romantic relationships. That being said, we all know that the rapper has always had a way of capturing audiences’ attention—whether that be through his music, public declarations, or dumb mistakes.
So, with all of the respect we can muster, I think it’s worth gathering all of the evidence once and for all. Is Drake gay? And even if he is, why on earth do we all seem to care so much?
Once you realize Drake is a gay man all his songs are fun asf
— Sam (@zo1oft) June 12, 2022
Is Drake gay?
Speculation about Drake’s sexuality has been a topic of conversation for years now. Whether it’s his fashion choices or his questionable lyrics, it seems as though people have always had an opinion on the rapper’s private life.
The self-proclaimed “certified lover boy” has regularly been labelled as “soft” and due to evidently ever-present gay stereotypes, this softness must automatically have a direct correlation with the artist’s sexuality.
It’s worth mentioning that when you Google “is Drake gay,” the first search result is a Reddit thread with the same name. Posted three years ago, the thread is filled with comments from netizens going back and forth over whether the rapper’s “soft boy” demeanour is proof enough that he’s not heterosexual.
One user wrote: “Duh. He just won’t come out and say it cause rap fans are homophobic af,” while another claimed “Highly doubt it. He’s clearly comfortable with his masculinity I guess.”
Drake has been linked to numerous women in the public sphere—Rihanna, SZA, Jennifer Lopez, and Julia Fox to name a few. There was also his incredibly uncomfortable and inappropriate friendship with Millie Bobby Brown…
Moreover, Drake has repeatedly been accused of participating in the manosphere and directly contributing to misogyny and societal sexism.
Drake has always shrouded blatant misogyny in his ‘lover boy’ and ‘for the gworls’ persona and is exactly why all these ‘soft boys’ scare me. I feel dumb for falling for it for so long tbh.
— T✨ (@txadel_) November 4, 2022
While Drake himself has never insinuated or claimed that he might be gay, the closest he’s gotten was in his 2021 song ‘Girls Want Girls’. One lyric in the track reads: “Yeah, say that you a lesbian, girl, me too / Ayy, girls want girls where I’m from / Wait, woah, yeah, girls want girls.”
The thing is, most of the internet (myself included) can deduce that what really Drake was doing here was fetishising lesbian relationships, more specifically lesbian sex. And yet still, there were a few netizens who took this as a rather bizarre attempt for the rapper to reveal his authentic self.
drake going on 40 calling himself a lesbian oh we’re in hell fr pic.twitter.com/MhFekIRV4X
— j. (@jmsunjoon) September 3, 2021
+ drake is a lesbian now this is a big win for the community 😭
— Charlotte Day Wilson (@chardaywilson) September 3, 2021
Is Drake bisexual?
There has also been a lot of speculation that perhaps Drake isn’t gay, but bisexual. This idea gained traction after the rapper released his song ‘Members Only’, a track featured on the album For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition which went live on 17 November 2023.
Out of the entire 29-track album, the lyrics in ‘Members Only’ definitely received the most attention online—and for good reason. At one point in the song, Drake says: “Going deeper inside, my feelings can’t subside / These walls are so thin, you gon’ wake up the whole eastside, girl / Feel like I’m bi ‘cause you’re one of the guys, girl.”
Now, the rapper does go on to say “all jokes aside,” seemingly brushing off the so-called ‘coming out’. However, as is customary with the internet, netizens took this lyric and ran with it. Pretty soon, rumours about Drake being bisexual began spreading like wildfire on X:
drake is that "bi lesbian" that twitter be arguing about https://t.co/5740H7lQBn
— Aurora 🦇 (@SpectralAurora_) October 7, 2023
y’all don’t believe me when i say drake is bi https://t.co/JD9Tr2h0YX
— 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕞𝕓𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕝 ♡ (@mvr2ckk) July 23, 2024
Drake is bi to me but like one of the sassy ones that you’d think is full on rainbow
— ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ (@pinkheartzcore) October 16, 2024
It’s true that there is a lot of homophobia within the music industry. And while there has been massive progress over the past decade or so to dispel this kind of discrimination, notably from quite a few prominent hip hop artists, it’s definitely still present. Given the scandals and controversies Drake has found himself in over the past few years, I think it’s safe to say that his sexuality should realistically be the last thing we care about.
