Sam Smith’s Response To Homophobic Online Bully Is Perfect

Sam Smith is no stranger to the social media highs and lows that can befall a singer in the spotlight. He's called out unwanted competition between pop stars, proudly explained his take on fat-shaming versus gay slurs, and unceremoniously shut down shock jock Howard Stern's nasty insults with two simple tweets. (No wonder the Kardashian/Jenner clan love him.) Now, US Weekly reports that the British Grammy winner has taken to Instagram to stand up to a homophobic online bully, with a strong, wonderfully self-aware response designed to help raise awareness on the state of gay rights. Smith posted a screenshot of the profile, @gaysamsmith, that was personally attacking him with less-than-charming phrases like "There is a f—, his name is sam. when he’s on, I like to cry. he is gay but that’s okay, we can all make fun of him." And of course, let's not forget that the bully in question currently has his username, listed under the previously mentioned Instagram handle @gaysamsmith, set as "We hate f*ggot Smith." Oof. Not okay, friend. Standing up for both himself as well as the gay community, Smith captioned the screenshot: "This genuinely doesn't offend me, coz I'm way too [thick] skinned when it comes to this kind of shit. BUT I just wanted to share this with everyone, so you can see how homophobia is still SO PRESENT in our society!!” ... An important reminder that while the LGBT community has made tremendous strides this year (Hello, legalized same-sex marriage!), homophobia is unfortunately still alive and well — looking at you, Indiana — and we have a long ways to go. But in the meantime, we'll take some solace in this fun fact: Homophobia can shave years off of your life span. A small victory of karma, to say the least. And a warning for those who choose to scroll further: This Instagram post contains upsetting language.