Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo has come out as a “proudly gay man”, telling fans: “I am trying to finally be proud of who I am.”
“There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late and I feel compelled to set the record straight before it affects those I love any further,” Shomo wrote on social media Saturday (May 23). “I am a proudly gay man.
“This is something I’ve been unpacking and reckoning with in my life for quite some time now,” he continued. “It’s been difficult to navigate the feelings surrounding the subject and figure out what to do with this fact.”
Shomo’s announcement came a few months after the release of Beartooth’s ‘Free’, which arrived back in March, marking their first new music since 2023, as well as the first taste of their upcoming album. At the time, Shomo explained that the track signalled “the start of the next chapter of my music and my life.”
Shortly after the music video’s release, fans noticed that he had deleted his personal Instagram account, with many speculating it was due to a slew of homophobic comments he’d received.
At the time, PRP reported that he was met with hateful comments after debuting a new look in the video, in which he sports a bejewelled choker and crop top, as well as eye makeup.
Caleb Shomo (Beartooth) has come out as gay in a new statement shared to his fans on IG.
"There's been a lot of speculation surrounding my personal life as of late and feel compelled to set the record straight before it affects those love any further. I am a proudly gay man." pic.twitter.com/CQyaZgoxCx
— State of the Scene (@SOTSPodcast) May 23, 2026
As well as detailing his aims to “chase who I am, in the deepest part of my soul, from album to album”, Shomo’s statement also touched on spending “a decade burying feelings with alcohol”.
“Honestly, he wrote, “when I decided to put it down and focus on exploring why I felt this way for so long, it’s been a direct path to me reconciling with my sexuality in hopes that it will eventually lead to me experiencing self love.
“One thing I decided before I wrote a single note of the upcoming album is that whatever happens, I will express myself whole heartedly and fully. Wherever it takes me I will follow and I refuse to water any part of it down, from the music, to the lyrical content, and way I portray myself.
“I will only do what makes me happy at the deepest level and what is the most honest depiction of who I am. I believe it’s impossible to love every part of you when you won’t face every part of you head on. I am trying to finally be proud of who I am and I think this is a massive part of that journey.”
He went on to thank those who had shown him “empowerment through living life freely and openly in my presence, supporting the queer community, or simply telling me you love me whoever I am”, saying he was “forever” in their debt.
“Love you all,” he concluded. “Hopefully this is a step in the right direction to loving myself one day.”
Following the release of ‘Free’, Attila’s Chris Fronzak took to social media to write that the singer had “dropped the ‘S’ from his name”, before saying that the music industry is “brainwashed beyond belief” and alleging that artists are told they “wouldn’t get big because they don’t have a trans person or female in the band.”
Fronzak has since apologised, saying he meant the remark “as a joke”, adding: “I don’t know what he’s going through at the moment, but I wish him the best. The world has too much hate rn & I don’t want to add any fuel to that fire… You never know what someone is going through. Therefore, I am sorry, and I will work towards thinking about things deeper before I just word-vomit shit into this bird app. Love yall,” per the Mosh.
Beartooth’s last album was 2023’s ‘The Surface’. At the time, he spoke to NME about the album and described the release as “the most intimate experience that I have with music”.
“It’s always a cathartic experience to write Beartooth records, with whatever kind of viewpoint they’re from,” he said. “Some, obviously, being more painful than others. Making this record, truly, it’s just something I never thought was going to happen in my life, candidly. I’ve talked about it in other albums, I’ve talked about it pretty openly in interviews, the dark side of what I deal with sometimes, I felt like has always been at the forefront and been the most powerful energy in my life.
“Most of the time, I’d finish a song and be listening to it and I was like, ‘I cannot believe I wrote this.’ Beartooth is the most intimate experience that I have with music. Beartooth and me are one thing. It’s just me talking about exactly what I’m going through, with no filters, at that moment.”
In other news, last year Shomo teamed up with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello for the politically charged Final Fantasy 14 anthem ‘Everything Burns’.