April Fools Day is a day full of pranks. Some people go all the way with the concept and put saran wrap all over someone’s door so that they can’t leave the room; some people simply say something that is untrue and follow it with “April Fools!” and a laugh. This year, Sam Smith pulled a prank on his fanbase. The openly gay celebrity tweeted: “Guys I have some news… I’m straight,” at 3:53 a.m on Wednesday morning.

One hour later, Smith tweeted once again: “April fools,” followed by a crying-laughing emoji. Obviously, this April Fools joke is not very believable, and was meant to be lighthearted. But Smith did not receive the reaction he was expecting, which was for his fans to be able to take the joke. Not everyone was laughing.

Many of his followers replied to him saying that his tweet was not funny and that “sexuality isn’t a joke”. Smith understands what it is like to be treated differently for his sexuality, and has had first hand experience with bullying: “A bunch of boys from a rival school would shout insults at me as I walked from my home to the train station,” Smith said. “I remember walking to the station getting ‘f*****’ shouted at me all the time. It was the most mortifying thing.”

Despite some of the followers who shot Smith’s joke down, he still has loyal and supportive fans who got the joke and had a laugh from it. Smith thinks that sexuality should not be treated as such a serious issue and people should live their lives normally. “Don’t make [your sexuality] an issue,” Smith said. “If others around you are making an issue, I understand. Fight for your rights, of course. But … let’s make it a normality. To make it equal, we kind of need to act equal.” Smith wants there to be no more segregation caused by sexuality, and for there to be an environment in which an April fools joke like this is not such a serious issue that divides his fans.