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iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2020: Did Shawn Mendes misgender Sam Smith? Radio network slammed for 'transphobia'

Sam Smith’s preferred pronouns are ‘they/them’ but Shawn Mendes kept calling ‘In the Lonely Hour’ singer as ‘he/him.’

iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2020 kicked off on December 10 with a star-studded lineup and Sam Smith's heart-touching rendition of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' has made everyone emotional. Sam Smith also performed ‘Dancing with Stranger’.

But Sam Smith fans are slamming ‘Wonder’ singer Shawn Mendes who performed before Sam Smith before introducing the singer using wrong pronouns. Sam Smith’s preferred pronouns are ‘they/them’ but Mendes kept calling ‘In the Lonely Hour’ singer as ‘he/him.’

Fans are accusing iHeartRadio of promoting transphobia, stating if all the shows are prerecorded, how did nobody catch it and corrected the singer to use the correct pronouns. Many took it to Twitter to express outrage over misgendering a singer who has been open about his gender identities and slammed iHeartRadio for negligence. A fan wrote, “So no one was gonna tell Shawn Mendes that Sam Smith’s pronouns are they/them and they just let him refer to them as “he” like 5 times????” A user noted, “They/Them. They/Them. Sam’s pronouns are They/Them and to use anything otherwise is wrong and Shawn should apologize not only to Sam but the entire non-binary community. They/Them. It’s not that difficult.” Another said, “I’m so surprised more people didn’t catch on cuz that wasn’t cool at all.”

Fans also said iHeartRadio should take responsibility for the situation. A user pointed out, “it probably wasn’t intentional, but iheartradio should have made shawn re-record it, same with lilnasx because he did it too.” To which a user replied, “Imagine stating how much you love them and all that but then misgender them the entire time.” An outraged fan stated, “it was prerecorded and no one caught him misgendering them??? Wtf???” Another similar tweet said, “A simple mistake? that was recorded? and looked over multiple times? shawn misgendered sam and no one corrected him. that's blatant transphobia. maybe shawn made a mistake but even so he should apologize. and the people that edited this jingle ball can f**k themselves.” Another fan said, “I am almost positive that shawn would have corrected himself if he was aware of his mistakes. iheart radio should have most definitely given him the chance for to re record it for the sake of sam smith. they deserve so much more.”