In a recent interview with The SDR Show, Desmond Child addressed the homophobia in the music industry during the 1980s. He explained how some bands dismissed his work just because he was a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Child humorously pointed out, “It was okay for me to be a co-writer because you’re equal. But these hetero bands— by the way, that wore makeup and painted their nails, they were very masculine, right?”
“They look like big girls and they didn’t want a gay guy d*ck-slapping them in the studio because the producer is the boss,” the singer added.
Though he didnt name any artists or producers that didnt want to work with him for that certain reason, Child said earlier that he rarely faced homophobia from artists. “While they were off at their AA meetings or whatever, I’d be talking to their wives and by the time they came back I’d rehung their paintings and rearranged their furniture. It’s like the palace eunuch. I was not a threat to the king,” he said in a chat with The Guardian.
He even said that Aerosmith’s 1987 hit ‘Dude (Looks Like a Lady)’ was ahead of its time, and called it a trans anthem.
