Out.com Editors“When I was growing up, I don’t think parents would have brought their kids to see some crazy black man singing about splitting on trees,” Todrick Hall (a.k.a. Toddy Rockstar, a.k.a. Quing Toddy) told Out earlier this year before the premiere Aug. 31 premiere of his new MTV show, titled Todrick. "These are people thinking outside the box," he says of fans that have attended his live performances, "parents bringing their kids to see an out gay man perform, exposing them to my world."
For reference, his “#SplitsOnTrees” video show him and a bevy of dancers, friends, and random strangers on the street do exactly that — one leg placed on the ground, the other placed high up on the bark. On screen, the hashtag #splitsontrees is repeated with frequency. As Jessica Hundley wrote: "The moment is joyfully risqué and nonsensical, and just one of Hall’s nervy ways of announcing, 'I’m strange, I’m queer, get used to it.'
Hall grew up in Plainview, Texas, and in the next episode, airing Monday, Sept. 7, he returns to Texas. In one scene he chats with his younger brother Shay. He discusses the fact that he's gay (of course his brother already knows) and he tells his brother: "As long as you're a good person, I think that's what matters."
Todrick airs Mondays, 10 p.m. ET on MTV. Watch this exclusive clip below:
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