Hundreds of people lined the halls of Warriner Hall, waiting anxiously for the doors of Plachta Auditorium to open at 6:30 p.m. Some had arrived as early as 1 p.m. that day and others drove from hours away.

What were they waiting for? YouTuber, author and activist Tyler Oakley.

Central Michigan University’s Program Board invited Oakley to campus Nov. 16 as part of its lecture series.

A Michigan native, Oakley attended Okemos High School and Michigan State University. Although he lives in Los Angeles now, most of his family still lives in Michigan.

Oakley was featured on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in 2017. Some of his accomplishments include a book, documentary, talk show, podcast, eyewear collection and production company. He and his friend Korey Kuhl also competed in “The Amazing Race” in 2016.

At promptly 7 p.m., Royal Oak senior Harrison Watts took the stage in Plachta Auditorium to introduce Oakley. Then, he sat in one of two chairs on stage as Oakley came out. The event involved Watts sitting on stage with Oakley, asking him questions. The two joked around and bantered while the audience laughed, cheered and snapped their fingers.

The conversation included unfiltered (and sometimes off-topic) stories and reflection of Oakley’s past. He talked about when he came out as gay, his time as a resident assistant in college and his unintentional YouTube fame.

Oakley said he “officially” came out as gay in high school. He had told one girl, and she, with good intentions, told the boy he had a crush on. He found out about this right before he went on stage to play the role of Eugene in his high school’s production of “Grease.”

“It was my worst fear realized… I had no clue who she told, I had no clue who was talking about it,” he said. “It was for me to decide how I was going to tell my truth and someone betrayed my trust and did it for me.”

He gave advice to students in the LGBTQ community about coming out.

“It is your journey; it is your pace; it is your time,” he said. “People’s self-discovery is at their own pace. While it’s so incredibly brave to be out and loud and proud and waving a flag, it is just as brave to know when it’s right for you and know when it’s safe for you.”

Oakley said he started creating YouTube videos as a freshman in college. He said he watched William Sledd’s vlogs all the time, which is what inspired him to do the same thing.

He said it was never his intention to become famous and never thought YouTube could become a full-time job. He said he just enjoyed making videos and people liked watching them. His approach to YouTube has always been to have the most fun he can and do the most good he can.

Today, Oakley has 7.6 million subscribers on YouTube. He said in the 11 years he has been making videos, he never had anything go viral and he wasn’t actively seeking subscribers. He made videos because he enjoyed it and his subscriber count grew organically.

Watts, Program Board’s lecture director, said he has been planning the event since July. However, he didn’t know he would be on stage with Oakley until the day of the event.

“I knew I was going to be asking the questions, but I thought I would be offstage,” Watts said. “I didn’t know I was going to be sitting right next to him.”

Although he was nervous, Watts said he had a lot of fun.

“He’s so cool and I feel like we bounced off of each other really well,” he said.

During the event, Oakley talked to a few audience members. He called them out for laughing and making faces and asked questions about some people he had interacted with on social media.

Sara Kellner
Macomb 18-year-old Angela Selaty poses with a poster she made for Tyler Oakley's visit to CMU on Nov. 16 in Plachta Auditorium. She runs an fan account on Instagram, @theawesometyleroakley.

Angela Selaty may have been Oakley’s biggest fan at the event. She and her mom, Kathy, traveled two and a half hours from Macomb for Oakley’s speech. The 18-year-old high school student runs an Instagram account, @theawesometyleroakley. She started the account in 2013 and today she has 1,102 followers.

During the event, Oakley mentioned the Instagram account and Selaty held up a homemade sign from the back of the auditorium. She and Oakley talked briefly from across the auditorium.

“You have been so supportive and such a light, every single day,” he said to her. After the event, she had the opportunity to meet him.

Watts’ last question was what advice Oakley wanted to leave the stage with.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was because I embraced me,” he said. “You don’t have to be the best whatever, or the smartest whatever; you just have to be the best you.”