The other day, I noticed Leslie Jordan videos starting to pop up in my Instagram feed. At first, I glanced at them, smiled, and kept scrolling through. I’m afraid my mind wasn’t in the right place to tolerate any happiness.
Then yesterday, after a moment of being fed up with all things Trump,I stopped on a Jordan video, clicked on it, and then the next one and the next. I was falling over with laughter.
"I think I fell out of the womb and landed in my mother's high heels," he said in one of them. "I just like things pretty. I think that's why homosexuals were put on this earth, just to make things pretty."
As I watched and listened, I thought, "Wouldn’t it be great to hunker down with Leslie again?," letting him shine a little daily light in our lives during these ominous, early days of the Trump administration.
If you think about it, there are a lot of similarities to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were grappling with fear and uncertainty, and where we are today with the destruction Donald Trump has inflicted upon us. During COVID, every day brought new numbers of the sick and dying, and now with Trump, every day brings news of another executive order that kills another freedom or right.
We were so isolated during COVID, and now during Trump 2.0, if you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, especially T, you are feeling an equally overwhelming sense of isolation. While watching Jordan’s videos, I was thinking about how he became an unexpected beacon of joy and how joy seems to be something we are all struggling to find at the moment, as we struggle to figure out what we should be doing.
“Well, shit, what are y’all doing? Screwin’?
At 65, Jordan, the veteran actor and comedian, became an Instagram sensation, offering daily doses of humor and warmth that resonated not just here in the U.S. but globally. Jordan's content reminded us that despite what anyone can do or say to harm and hurt members of our community, there was the enduring power of laughter and authenticity.
Before the pandemic, Jordan was best known for his roles in television series like Will & Graceand American Horror Story. However, it was his Instagram videos that catapulted him to newfound fame. And made people realize how uproariously funny he was.
In one of his “pillow talk" reels, he dished about working on a scene with Lady Gaga on American Horror Story and how she told him she liked to sexualize her acting. “Well, honey, she kicked me, rolled me over, got down on me, started riding me and howling at the moon, carrying on, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”
Confined for most of the time to his home in Tennessee, Jordan began sharing snippets of his daily life, from childhood anecdotes to lighthearted musings. His signature greeting, "Well, shit, what are y'all doin'?" became a comforting refrain for millions. In a matter of weeks, his follower count skyrocketed from a modest number to over 5.8 million who became his “fellow hunkerdowners.”
I was one of those 5.8 million who hunkered down with Jordan. I looked forward to hearing from him. I knew I was going to either laugh or feel comforted. I’m the type of person who never comments on social media posts. I just figured, "Why would anyone care what I thought?" It was why I never engaged with my Twitter account.
But I made an exception with Jordan. I wrote “thank you” under one of his posts, put on a red heart, and asked him if he’d repeat his famous line from Will & Grace, "This is my business associate, Benji.” He never did, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t need to do that. And if you’re not familiar with that line, Leslie’s character Beverly Leslie on the show had no one fooled about who Benji really was.
It was hard for Leslie to hide his sexuality. In one of his reels, he recalled a time his sober coach told him that to overcome his fear of heterosexual men, Jordan needed to join a men’s stag group. When Jordan arrived, the room was full of a bunch of butch men, so Jordan called his coach with a question, “Do you think when I get up to talk I should tell them that I’m gay right off the bat?” And the sponsor replied, “Honey, you're going to walk to the podium, they're gonna know!”
“These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do, and one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you...I want a pair of shit-kickers, sir. These are the boots I want.”
You could count on Jordan's content being brutally honest, mixing storytelling, humor, and sarcasm, all with relatability. Whether recounting tales from his upbringing in Chattanooga, playfully navigating the challenges of quarantine, or riffing on his sexuality, he provided a sense of connection during a time of widespread loneliness.
During the pandemic, in a 2020 interview, Jordan contemplated his unexpected viral fame, sharing, "Someone called from California and said, 'Oh, honey, you've gone viral.' And I said, 'No, no, I don't have COVID. I'm just in Tennessee.'". He also once playfully noted, "At my age, if I put something away, that means I’ll never see it again."
Then there were all the Mmemes he sparked, perhaps most famously the “Daddy, Daddy, watch me twirl” video, where Jordan talked about how his father was aghast that Leslie wanted to be a majorette instead of a football player.
I laughed out loud at one video where he showed two desserts that he’d purchased and then debated about which one he would eat. After a few minutes, he finally blurted out, “Fuck it, I’ll eat them both.” I think many of us during COVID did the same thing. Why not eat them both? Who were we going to see?
These days, I think I’m too sick to my stomach to eat two desserts, so that’s why maybe instead of dessert, I should take in some of Jordan's videos. They offer a respite, reminding us of the importance of finding joy amid adversity being caused by our dwindling democracy. When Jordan died suddenly in October of 2022, I think all of us who followed him felt like a piece of happiness in the world was taken away. One less delicious, happiness-filled dessert.
I often wonder, if he were still alive, what would he say about Trump? “I don’t judge, but I guess every garbage can has its lid.”
In an interview during the pandemic, Jordan noted, "The gay community came out of AIDS closer, and I think the world will be closer after this. When we come out of this, people will be kinder; they are gonna be more connected than ever before and more willing to help one another because we have a shared experience.”
Let’s hope that Jordan’s prophecy still holds true.
Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.
