Whatever happened to Brendan Jordan after becoming hugely famous as “the diva kid” by dancing with oh so much charisma to “Applause” by Lady Gaga in the background of a live TV dispatch? This is our conversation with him.
Brendan Jordan (18) went from being a kid in the crowd to an Internet star. Years later he has proven to be a lot more than just a “diva kid”. His face was everywhere and his dancing in a GIF appeared on every social media site, which also made him the target of bullying and critiques due to his feminine performance.
This is his story.
Brendan went out with his family to the Downtown Summerlin mall. The next morning, he and his sister were supposed to be at school. But in Summerline, a Las Vegas suburb where they live, a mall opening can turn into quite a spectacle, especially considering if it took six years to complete.
It finally opened and the Jordans were there.
On October 9th 2014, the city celebrated for 4 days with a street festival and all the TV stations from the area arrived to broadcast the event.
Lights, camera & action.
Tedd Florendo & Patranya Nhoolsuwan were broadcasting the big opening live for KLAST-TV. Brendan searched for the center, first row, facing the camera while starting to do the choreography to Applause by Lady Gaga, one of the most important representative of pop culture, the video of which had been released only two months prior to that broadcast.
The journalists were describing the mall, explaining its functioning and showed the mall visitors wave and smile. The only one that stood out there was Jordan, wearing tight pants and a black shirt, only stopping his dancing to look at a little girl by his side with her iconic stank face.
Tracy, his mother, wanted the video of his son on TV, so she requested it from the TV station. However, when they got home it was no longer necessary. It was all over the internet. Brendan Jordan woke up the next day turned into one of the voices of his generation. Or a GIF meme, or whatever you want to to call it.
Gaga and the Drag community joined together to congratulate him. As a result, Brendan participated in television & internet shows, met his favorite artists and continued to achieve his goals which little by little were transformed into a discourse filled with love, compassion and humility.
While in Las Vegas he was known as the “Downtown Summerlin Kid”, on the Internet and in Chile he made his press appearance as the “Diva Kid”.
It was 6 o’clock in Las Vegas, 11 pm in Santiago. Very punctual, he called me through Skype and the conversation began:
His father / manager, Chris Jordan, coordinated our interview. Brendan was tired, he had a very busy week, and this Wednesday he managed to find a slot in his schedule to answer my request.
During all of this time, between interviews, his job as a host at the Drag Queens conventions and the Youtube channel that he manages uploading original content with his stories, recommendations and tutorials, besides school and his plans for the future, Brendan’s time seems limited, a teenager with a full schedule.
After telling the world about his sense of belonging to the Trans community, Jordan faced once again a journey, its tide filled with prejudices & violence.
One of the most common mistakes is understanding that if somebody belongs to the Trans community, they are in the process of a sex change. That’s not the case. Brendan is gender-fluid or non-binary.
“When it comes to my gender, I am very open. I like men, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I don’t like putting labels on these types of matters”
Jordan’s viral power gave strength to his posture about the events that are happening in the world. With tunconditional love and family support, he has always had the courage to show himself as he is, without fear and to encourage people that need to hear a voice that supports them.
This becomes especially important nowadays. A few months ago, Las Vegas endured one of the worst shootings that affected this city, bringing with it the arguments about gun ownership, especially in the local context, with a white, straight president who stands by that idea close to the conservative right-wing.
“I am a proud gay teen, and I identify as a gender-fluid person and I am very open with that, I am not interested in labels. I think that this is the most important thing that I can do right now, not backing down and not faltering or feeling bad for those people that could believe or not in the same things that I do”
“I like to joke saying that I am gay, gay, gay because I believe that it sounds very funny”, and at this point, it is. The over-exposure of the image of a teenager in the press and his intelligence to take this and use it in his favor grants Jordan the necessary permission to be whoever he wants to be.
How many people have had that chance? How many gays over 40 years old, or even 30 years old, have managed to live their life with the liberty of being who they are.
And this is why Brendan decided to fight for all the communities. He defines himself and his work as feminist. He was a part of the NOH8 campaign, which looks for funding to help LGBTIQ youth, of the Miley Cyrus’ Happy Hippie foundation and face to the apparel brand American Apparel.
He has participated in international gatherings dealing with the struggle for sexual diversity, presenting himself as a non-binary person and bringing up the issue. “I know and I have seen youths that don’t have or haven’t had the support that I have and I think that this is my big goal in life, to be there for those who need me”.
Two weeks ago he traveled to Mexico to a Drag Queen convention, where he hosted the event. Some of the queens from the Logo’s hit show “Rupaul’s Drag Race”.
“I think that Drag Queens contribute to each one of the movements, they are icons and platforms that we can look up to and get influences and I believe that they have helped the trans, gay, lesbian movements, especially the feminist movement”
“Drag is an art form, and I believe it pushes the boundaries with everything it has, more specifically, Trans rights, women’s rights, all of the rights and they do an excellent job and are also very good examples”
The job that the new generations have done linked to human rights, especially through the Internet, represents the millennial perspective of excellence.
Digital tools, social media platforms and gender technologies have benefited the constant social struggle. “I believe that our generation is the first one to be this open-minded, especially in my country, my generation will be excellent, and it will break boundaries, because we are all humans no matter what. My generation will take over the world”.
“When I was younger, I didn’t even want to say the Word gay, I didn’t want to give clues as to who I really was on the inside”. Having access to the Internet “allows to know queer icons, listen to what the social media influencers have to say or watching Rupaul’s Drag Race, the Internet helps a lot to spread the love and it really creates safe spaces, to open up and talk about us, learning about the way we are, about feelings, and about other people too”.
The entertainment industry, which Jordan has been involved with, has seen a lot of rape, sexual abuse and violence accusation lately.
“It is very wrong what these directors have been doing, and I believe that justice has to be in charge here so that the abuses may end, abuses that have been going on for many years, like, sadly, the historical silent treatment towards woman, but I believe that now it’s stronger than ever and we have to back each other up, being there for one another, especially for all the victims.
These men in the industry that commit abuse and that take advantage of women, even though it’s not only women, are horrible-horrible, and I believe that it is more important to talk about it now and Support the victims”
Brendan Jordan’s life has fluctuated between activism and support to the communities. With his job, he included the generations that most needed one of their own voices as discursive elements within the youngest subjectivities.
Reinforcing the sexual fictions and amplifying them until a point where they are explained, up until this day, the liberties within the normative margins, destroying the boundaries and giving strength to the generation of thought, own and critical, through all the platforms.
Right now Brendan is on down-time or mini-holidays from his job as a youtuber and soon he will be up and running to appear again in that same video social network. He wants to study marketing or dramatic theather.
“I am much more than just a kid that appeared in a video dancing. I have evolved, I have changed and I am more than that. It is good to change, everybody changes and I am a teenager so that happens”
He’d like to spend some time in Disneyland, maybe working there. It is his favorite place, the one that has seen him change and grow.
There is not a “he or she” to Jordan, there isn’t either for the new generations. This is them making their way through the world.
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