X Factor branded homophobic for not showing Saara Aalto’s girlfriend

ITV haven't really featured Saara's girlfriend that much...

saara aalto girlfriend

by Stevie Martin |
Published on

The X Factor has been branded "homophobic" by viewers who've picked up on the fact that Saara Aalto's girlfriend, Meri Sopanen, has barely been shown or talked about on the show.

While we are fast approaching the final, you'd be forgiven for thinking Saara wasn't in a relationship considering the amount of airtime it's had (i.e. none).

"Did anyone else not know Saara had a girlfriend? Why is this never shown?" asked one viewer on Twitter.

Another added: "Why do they never show Saara with her girlfriend? Do they want to hide that side of her?"

In actual fact, the pair have been together for two years and recently got engaged - Saara has recently revealed that she used to worry that being gay would ruin her career. She told The Daily Star that she'd been secretly dating girlfriend Meri and hiding it from her fans in Finland:

"I was dating Meri for about a year and I was hiding her.

"It was so stupid. I was taking selfies and always pretending I was by myself when of course I had my girlfriend next to me.

"It was my 28th birthday when I decided, ‘I’ve had enough’. I’d been hiding it for a year and couldn’t do it anymore."

The fact that the ITV show seem to have bypassed this important part of Saara's life seems to confirm all of the singer's worries, that there's some reason to hide her sexuality from fans. On the other hand, it could be that Saara's fiance Meri prefers not to be featured on the show, in which case, that's absolutely fine.

The X Factor haven't commented yet on the accusations, but we hope it's the latter - and if it's the former, we hope to see Meri featured a bit more in the coming episodes!

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