Out gay former NFL player turns to singing in beautiful The Voice audition

An out gay former Superbowl star has turned his hand to singing as he appeared on The Voice in a stunning blind audition.

WARNING: Spoilers for The Voice below

Former NFL star Esera Tuaolo appeared on The Voice US this week as the show returned for a new season.

He sang ‘Rise Up’ causing two of the judges to turn around.

This year’s judges include Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine.

RELATED: Out gay former NFL player: ‘Life is great now’ that I came out

Needless to say there were heated words as the two judges fought to get Tuaolo onto their respective teams.

Watch the clip below to see who he chose!

The Superbowl star came out in 2002 after coming out as gay on HBO.

He has rarely spoken out about coming out or life as a gay NFL player.


But on the Voice he addressed issues he faced after coming out.

He said: “When I finished in the NFL, I came out to my family. When I said those words for the first time; when I said that ‘I was gay’, it was like this huge mountain just crumbled.”

“I felt light as a feather but when I jumped on the scale I was still that 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound Samoan that’s gay and played in the NFL.”

Watch the stunning audition below:


The NFL star has been linked to TV star Carson Kressley.

Speaking at LAX, Kressley said: “I went out with a football player who was actually in the Super Bowl, so there.”

He responded to the woman from TMZ who asked: “What do you make of this idea that gay men can’t play football?”

As well as being shocked by the ridiculous question, it transpired that Kressley previously dated NFL defensive tackle Tuaolo.