Reality television changed its landscape in the last decade. The mostly unscripted genre went from making a memory to capitalizing on a moment. In return, many colorful characters have come out of the woodwork to make their mark on television by being their most authentic self. This, of course, leads me to William the Baddest… or Willy with the Booty, depending on when you tapped into his journey. The New Orleans native is slowly working his magic and capitalizing on the mediums of music, modeling and reality television. Not too shabby for an entertainment career that started a mere six years ago!
But William’s success story didn’t start with a quick skyrocket to fame. It came with many hard years of grinding before he manifested a miracle. In our exclusive interview, the ‘Fuck Me on Facetime’ rapper tells me: “My upbringing was tough, I’m not going to lie. I grew up in poverty. I didn’t know what a better life was because I never experienced it. Both of my parents were addicted to hard drugs during my early teen years. I ran away when I was 16-years-old, worked two jobs, graduated high school in North Dallas, then moved to Hollywood when I was 19.” This is, in part, why he wants his followers – regarded as The Boltgang – to know his sentiments: “Keep going. Keep winning. Keep making your haters mad.”
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Eventually his efforts and endeavors caught the eye of executive producer Natalie Nunn, who was diligently working to bring a Bad Girls Club but for boys to the streaming service Zeus Network. This is where I was first introduced to the thiccest member of our community. However, if you tuned in every Sunday for Bad Boys: LA, then you know William’s time in the mansion was not an easy one. He recollects: “My Bad Boys: LA experience on Zeus was a roller coaster in Hell. It definitely taught me how reality TV works and more-so that no one is safe. No shade, I feel like Caucasians are not treated great on that network. I did enjoy my time there, but I just know in life that you should go where you are wanted. Would I go back for another season? Yes. But they would most likely make me the clown again. I do like the idea of a challenge, though.”
Since leaving Zeus Network, The Baddest has predominantly worked with MTV on numerous shows including Caught in the Act: Unfaithful, Catfish and Help, I’m in a Secret Relationship. These appearances turned the OnlyFans content creator into a mainstream media personality. However, I noticed that all of these titles revolve around the idea of love. So, I asked William how his search for love is going in 2024. He says: “Man, I’m tired of looking! Who knows… We might have a ‘For the Love of the Baddest’ on a streaming network one day.” The DMs are always open, yal.
William’s other appearances include Chasing LA, Court Night Live, Cutler’s Court, Dr. Phil, Judge Mathis and The X Factor. I’ve also noticed him having some sort of working relationship with another streaming network – Now That’s TV. Is another co-starring series on the way? William divulges. “I tried out Now That’s TV. I feel like it’s not my beat. I hate the violence, but I do love to challenge myself; prove that I’m not afraid. I’m not the best fighter and I feel that it’s a requirement of all the new reality TV shows. I’d love to go show my comedic personality, but I know that’s not what networks want right now. If they do want me for the platform and come with the check, I’m never going to turn down some money!”
I couldn’t exit our interview without talking about William’s music. Especially his single ‘Grey Sweat Pants.’ As the LGBT community, this really should be a song that is played at every single event because… come on, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s basically half my browsing history on Instagram. The Baddest laughs: “I love this song so much! I’m slept on in the music industry. I’m gay, I’m white and I’m doing hip-hop. I do this shit for fun and spend so much money on music from scratch to finish; to the visuals and promotion. I love music, but do I have a half million-dollar investment? No. Maybe I’ll get lucky one day and make the chart topper I dream of. Until then, I’ll use the reality TV promo as leverage to promote my music. I cannot wait to release new music this year, and I’ve worked with amazing collaborators!”
From start, to finish, to the future, does William have any regrets? Just one. He says: “We live and we learn, but if I could go back in time I would do this a little differently. I would not fall in love at 18 and give my heart, soul, money, apartment and good bussy to that one low-life cheating, using, manipulative, narcissist boyfriend of mine.” As to not end the interview on a negative note, the reality TV star gushes to his fans: “I love you all and even in my most down moments, you all are always there for me. It means a lot because this industry can be so dark and it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You all are that light.”
Thanks for chatting with me, Will!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamthebaddest1/
SnapChat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/williamoutwest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/williamoutwest
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/william-the-baddest/1241080574
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0DRpE1NtwhjrEDvqP3dgpa?si=zKYcUHynQoa9oo4qLKklJQ OnlyFans: https://onlyfans.com/williamthebaddest
Lol to that music video of Grey Sweat Pants, a couple things I was thinking is damn that’s how I like my gay men….thick! + the guy he got to star in that video is one fine brotha.
His story’s sad & his family didn’t care for him because he’s gay 🙁
“My father got on crack really bad when I was 11 and then ended up overdosing multiple times. My mom was a young mom who was never there for me at all she disappeared when I was ten and I never saw her again, my father got so bad off on drugs that he sold me to a drug dealer in exchange when I was 13 and then I was brought to Dallas Texas and was raised in that environment until I ran away at 16, went to school and then got adjusted to the world, my family never reached out to me or wonder where I was, most of my family were in poverty and uneducated and didn’t care for me because they knew I was gay, So going through this made me wanna prosper and with all the pain I consumed, I used music and writing and watching tv dreaming that one-day ill move to Hollywood and be someone.
The road was never smooth playing this game. I’m white /gay/ in hip hop…”