The announcement was met with thousands of supportive comments. The 27-year-old Smith said he was excited and privileged for the support. He added he was "very nervous" about the announcement because he cares too much about what people think but decided to go for it.

There were detractors, too, who wondered about Smith's need to declare pronouns, an increasingly common practice within the LGBTQ community and beyond. Smith won an Oscar in 2016 for "Writing's on the Wall," from "Spectre" and has multiple Grammy Awards.