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Zachary Willmore made history and national headlines in October 2021, when he was crowned homecoming queen in front of his fellow Rock Bridge High School classmates, faculty members and several news outlets. Willmore wasn’t just his school’s first male student to earn the title — he was also the first man to ever hold such a title in the state of Missouri.
In videos and photos of his crowning, Willmore can be seen wearing a glittering gold gown on a football field, beaming as he accepted the crown and sash. The crowd went wild with cheers, as demonstrated in a recording of his celebratory moment, which went viral on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.
“It was literally like a dream,” Willmore told KOMU 8 news outlet after his win. “It was just really special to me.”
At the time, the teen had already established himself online, posting TikTok videos that showed off his sense of self and style. Four years later, however, Willmore is a certified social media celebrity, with over 2.3 million TikTok followers.
The San Diego State University senior, now 22, creates content ranging from makeup-filled, get-ready-with-me vlogs to pointed videos addressing serious social issues, like homophobia, hate crimes and politics. Willmore has opened up about his status as HIV-positive, and he’s documented his experience rushing a fraternity as an openly gay college student.
Recently, his historic homecoming queen win garnered renewed media interest, despite the news being four years old. While online attention isn’t anything new for Willmore, he admits that the viral bump did catch him by surprise.
“I feel like some of these articles that have come out recently are meant to enrage people,” he tells PEOPLE. “I see the highlighted words. It’s like, ‘Homecoming queen in the state of Missouri — who is a man.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is so obviously trying to rage-bait people.'”
The more inflammatory angles he’s seen are reminiscent of some reactions he observed back in 2021. He had been campaigning for the title on TikTok and “counting down” the days until homecoming, so when he finally posted the crowning itself, Willmore tells PEOPLE it reached waiting viewers quickly. He remembers the video reaching about 5 million views within just a few hours, but that night, his account got banned.
“I think a lot of people were coming to report it just because they were really upset,” says Willmore. “I am definitely so much tougher of a person because of that experience, because I did get death threats [sent] to my house.”
Alessandro Morino
He says many critics tried to claim that by winning the “queen” title, Willmore was “taking a spot from a girl.” That was not actually the case, he clarifies. The school was only ever going to crown one winner, no matter their gender. He could’ve opted to be called “homecoming king,” if he preferred.
“It was based off of popularity at the time and how many votes one specific person could garner regardless of the title,” Willmore shares.
He says he sees how the concept may have confused people initially, but Willmore does believe there’s some level of willful ignorance, especially in the case of recently resurfaced headlines that appear as “rage-bait.”
“At this point, I think that some people intentionally misunderstand,” adds the influencer.
Even with all the hate he’s fielded over the years, Willmore still feels proud of his place in Missouri history as the state’s first male homecoming queen. Plus, if nothing else, that win was a meaningful testament to his classmates’ fond regard for him as a friend.
“I definitely thought that it was going to be one of the other guys at my school because he was just so popular,” he recalls to PEOPLE. “It was really nice. I was excited about it.”
