Ragil Mahardika Reveals He's Gay to the Public, Openly Accepts Negative Comments from Haters

Kapanlagi.com - Recently, Ragil Mahardika has become the talk of the town after going viral on TikTok. Ragil is being talked about because he admitted that he is gay and has a husband, a man from Germany.

Recently, KapanLagi.com had the opportunity to chat with the man who is familiarly called Ragil. Through a phone call, Ragil revealed that before going viral on TikTok, he had already 'come out' to his family and through other social media.

"Actually, I have had another platform from the beginning. I have been open on Facebook since the Facebook era of 2014. I came out to my family and they knew about it in 2014. So since then, I haven't been hiding, I always post where I am, what I'm doing, and who I'm with. So from the Facebook era, I have been posting and then moved to Instagram. I am also active on Instagram. In 2018, I started YouTube. I have a YouTube channel, although not many viewers, but I have a community on YouTube. On YouTube, I also talk about my daily life and activities," said Ragil.

1. Starting Because of the Pandemic

Ragil Mahardika © instagram/ragilmahardika

Before going viral like now, Ragil created a TikTok account during the early days of the pandemic. He admitted that he was just doing it for fun, not expecting it to go viral.

"In 2020, I made TikTok because there was a pandemic in Germany. Because making TikTok was just for fun, just following the viral dances. Eventually, it turned into a daily life theme. My daily life is what is shown on TikTok. So, it shows all my activities and daily life, which makes my personal branding strong, including my partner and my life in Germany," he explained.

2. Not Staged

Ragil Mahardika © instagram/ragilmahardika

Ragil admits that what he shows on TikTok is not staged drama. He only shows his daily life with his husband through the social media platform.

"It's just like that, it appeared and eventually went viral. Eventually, I have a strong personal branding as Ragil's gay partner. Although there are actually many others, maybe because I was the first one to go viral, the gay connotation is always associated with Ragil now. Usually, if there are videos that lead to that, I am usually tagged as 'wow Ragil, Ragil's child, Ragil's sibling or Kak Ragil's sibling'. For example, if our friends post videos that lead to the LGBTQ+ world or if there are posts of Tik Tok dances with graceful guys, they are always associated with Ragil," said Ragil.

3. Open to Comments

Ragil Mahardika © instagram/ragilmahardika

Ragil realizes that what he is doing will receive various reactions from the public. Especially since Indonesian society has not yet been able to accept the presence of same-sex lovers.

"If it's said to be controversial, it's definitely because whatever we do, there will always be people who are not happy with what we do, regardless of whether it's related to LGBTQ+ or not. It's the same thing. For example, when a celebrity has a child, people comment that it was born too quickly, or that they got married too soon. So whatever we do in this world or in our lives, there will always be pros and cons. If we do it in a small circle, for example, only with family or friends, there may still be people who don't agree with what we do," he explained.

"What's more, if we do it on a larger scale, in the sense that I expose what my daily life is like or tell people about my life, there will definitely be consequences if many people out there don't like it. They may not like it because they also want to do it but can't, or they may genuinely not like it because they find it too vulgar, for example," he said.

"As for me, I deal with it because I've been on social media since before Tik Tok even existed, and I've always been open. In the Facebook era, I never locked the videos I posted. The only thing I did was to close the comments if there were things I posted with my family. So I've been active on social media since 2014 and I'm strong enough to ignore any hate from people out there. But I prefer to think positively. Even though they're hating, they're still watching the video and reading the comments, at least they're starting to get in touch with taboo, layman, and unspoken topics in Indonesia. So that's where I win," Ragil continued.

4. Not Bothered

Ragil Mahardika © instagram/ragilmahardika

He ignored the hate conveyed through social media. Because netizens who initially hated, in the end, continued to watch for various reasons.

"If they hate, besides the fact that there is money coming in, it can't be denied, but more to their hate, at least they will get used to things they have never heard of before. Maybe that's where I win, so it can be as crowded and still have a large community. Because people out there feel like, for example, people's comments, at first, they don't respect and don't like it, but the more they get used to it, the more they just live their lives like that. That's actually what I want to achieve. The victory I want to give to people to say what do you really think? Well, as long as I don't bother anyone, that's my business," he said.

"I hope more people will dare to speak up, dare to be open, dare to show that habit and people will get used to it day by day. It doesn't mean we have to accept it, at least we should respect people's choices in their life. So, for example, our transgender friends who were initially criticized, but now they are being praised more and more, they are often seen on TV and people are getting used to that world. Because the more they are presented with their humor, behavior, and life, people get used to it," continued Ragil.

5. Ignore the Haters

Ragil Mahardika © instagram/ragilmahardika

Now he no longer thinks about negative comments towards him. The presence of haters does not make Ragil retreat from making content on social media.

"If I always say that practice makes perfect, then if there is something new that we have never heard of, we will be afraid, we are not used to it. But if every day we hear more and more and every day we get used to things like that, then people will not think badly anymore. But it's more like, well, it's your life, so just let it be. That's why now the negative comments are starting to decrease because people are no longer thinking about it, but more like, 'Ragil is happy, I'm happy to see his cooking videos, I'm happy to see his gardening videos, I'm happy to see his knowledge about Germany.' So haters can eventually become delayed fans if we always provide information that they actually want to know," he said.

(kpl/rhm/phi)