Most celebrities turn to Christianity when they rebrand and Inno Matijane is no different.
The reality TV star, who was transitioning and had changed his pronouns to she/her, has since reversed his decision and now identifies as male again.
The “The Way Ngingakhona” star has renounced his journey as a born-again Christian and a proud “man of God”, as per his Facebook bio.
Taking to TikTok, Matijane posted a lengthy video to explain that although he was born gay and was still attracted to men, he chose God over his sexuality.
“I’ve been living as a queer person but still praying to God and surrendering to God but there’s one particular thing that I felt like I was just in denial and that was my sexuality – which is going to come across as surprising to a lot of people because humans regarded me as a trans woman and I was very proud.
“Even last week I was still proud and this does not change anything, it does not change the fact that I have an attraction towards guys, but understanding God and his truth is understanding that God does not look at that per se when we try to defend ourselves by saying we were born out of sin,” he said.
@innomatijane I just want to live for God
♬ original sound - Inno Matijane
“Yes I was born out of sin but I need to fulfil a task and a task needs to be in alignment with God and that is to be reborn. I’m getting to that phase where even though I was born perhaps as a gay person, I need to understand that even though I was born with this thing, acting upon it is where it becomes a problem.
“Yes, God loves me the way I am, God loves me as a gay person, and God loves me as a trans person, but his love for me does not mean that it’s an acknowledgement of my sin,” he continued.
Matijane received some flak from the LGBTQ+ community over his rebrand.
“That's not how it's done beloved. We know your music career is not landing, and this is your strategy to venture into gospel because you know how hateful Christians are if you ‘came as you are’.
“Build your career, but don't use God & LGBTQ to advance your LIES!” said Dominic Zaca, a transgender woman and an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Another member of the community, @ApheleleJody, said: “Inno just decided to give homophobes content to drag the queer community I don't like such people.”
Matijane concluded by asking his fans not to use his revelation against the LGBTQ+ community because that’s what caused most members of that community to avoid church.
“Please, this is not a ‘gotcha’ moment to the queer community. In fact, y’all should love people as they are and not weaponise the Bible.
“I just want to live for God and abide by his book of life. That's it. I shall not speak on this again, I still support the LGBTQ+ community, they're children of God, like me and you, but I love God more,” he said.
Matijane has been spreading the word of God on social media and has removed all the pictures of himself when he was still a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.