"I don't know what it is — I really don't. — because how could someone ghost me?" he asks. "I'm amazing. I just don't get it. I don't get it. I'm no regular ass person. I don't understand why someone would do that." The results speak for themselves: the Instagram video has nearly 1.5 million views in four days, at the time of this story's publication.
Thompson says the fierce tirade was a comment on the dating scene. "Don't even get me started," he says. "It's so awful. I don't understand it. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to meet the right people." He says he's tried Tinder, ending up on dates with people who fawn over his following, and even celebrity-leaning Raya, where he insists he ended up with no responses. "I've come to accept that, if I die, at least I'll die alone and successful and rich. So! It's OK. Whatever happens, happens."
His advice for young LGBTQ+ people having similar struggles with dating is to stick with it. It sucks, sure, but you have to keep yourself going and keep yourself out there before you can get booked and busy in love. "Yes, it is tough. Yes, you will feel like, 'Ugh. What is wrong with me?!' — but it's not you," he says. "It's not cute [but] it's the people. Keep on going."
Ultimately, to be Rickey Thompson is to be you without giving a f*ck about what other people think. That's what he loves about himself. That's what he loves about the youngest generation of queer persons coming up behind him. "In this new age, people are out here living their lives, doing whatever they want — and they don't care about the hate. That I love."
"I wish I could have experienced that when I was younger," Thompson says. "The hatred and stuff — people being upset with who they are — it was a very dark time. Now? People are out here, and multiple queer people are really out here really killing it, and that makes me so happy. I want to see more unapologetic people go out there and kill it some more."