Gogglebox star Joe Baggs joins Yahoo UK’s Queer Voices to talk about being authentic online and why reality TV needs better queer representation.
- Joe Baggs rose to fame after appearing with his family on Gogglebox, he is now a content creator and presenter.
- The TikTok star speaks to Yahoo UK’s Queer Voices about being authentic online, helping others by sharing insight into his relationship with Kaine Ruddach.
You might know me from Gogglebox, where I sat with my family during lockdown and beyond. We found it quite hard to adjust to being in the limelight, before I was just a recruiting agent and my brother just cleaned cars. And then we were suddenly on the national TV screen so it was fun, it was the best time ever but it was a weird adjustment for sure.
People really enjoy me being my authentic self, there’s actually a bit of a Gogglebox secret here that I dressed up in drag for a show and then came down in a dress and they didn’t put it in the show, but that’s how truly authentic I was to being myself at that time.
From Gogglebox, I then became a content creator with my family, and TikTok is our main platform, which we absolutely love. I do think it can be a really safe space for queer people, particularly when you’re your authentic self and you build a community on there with people that really resonate with what you do, and it can be a really lovely safe space. It can also be quite rogue at times, so be safe out there.
TikTok can also be an open forum for a lot of hate speech. My family and I have been quite good at blocking out the noise, but for a lot of people, that’s not possible because it gives people the chance to be anonymous with their comments.
And one thing I would say is to just really focus on yourself, block, unfollow, do whatever you need to do to put yourself in a safe headspace online. I think for my family and I, it’s good to have a support network, if you feel like you need to log off just log off. Nothing bad’s gonna happen, you just need to care for yourself because you are the most important thing at the end of the day.
I’m more than happy to share my relationship with my boyfriend online and be someone that young queer kids might look up to. I try and show everything, the good and the bad, and be really real on TikTok as well.
I think that it’s a positive thing. Obviously it’s sometimes difficult to share a lot of yourself online because people then feel like they know you really well, so it’s quite strange in that way but I’m super happy that I am and it’s lovely that Kaine and I enjoy it. It’s like a lovely part of our relationship that we can work together and show people a positive representation of a gay couple in the media.
I’ve actually had a lot of DM’s from people since Gogglebox and also from TikTok saying that I’ve given them the confidence to come out. My family being so supportive has really helped them through some tough times, and even when people have lost family members, I think the community that I’ve tried to bring to light is basically a close-knit family community where anyone is welcome.
I want them to watch our videos and feel included and feel like they’re just getting that safety net that they might not have at home. I’ve had some really lovely messages from people and that makes it all worthwhile doing and makes me love it.
One piece of advice that I would give my younger self or queer kids today is to not be afraid to find yourself online. And what I mean by that is block out the noise of anyone that might have a negative comment, or have any hate speech regarding what you do. Just live for you, be yourself, do you online and if it makes you happy then that’s literally all that matters.