Hilary Duff wears a pale pink jumpsuit and sits on a yellow couch. She speaks into a microphone.

Notable People

Hilary Duff Said Her ‘That’s so Gay’ PSA Makes Her Want to ‘Cry’

A PSA Hilary Duff made in 2008 has recirculated on social media. Here's how she feels about it nearly two decades later.

by Emma McKee

Published on March 4, 2026

2 min read

Hilary Duff starred in a PSA that people call the ‘That’s so Gay’ PSA

In 2008, Duff starred in a public service announcement for the Think Before You Speak Campaign by the Ad Council and GLSEN. In it, two teenage girls in a store describe a shirt as “so gay.” Duff tells them that “you shouldn’t say that.”

“[Don’t] say that something is gay when you really mean it’s bad,” she said. “It’s insulting. What if every time something was bad, everybody said: ‘That’s so girl wearing a skirt as a top.’”

Hilary Duff said the ‘That’s so Gay’ PSA makes her emotional

In the years since the ad aired, it has resurfaced multiple times on social media. People have recreated it themselves and made jokes about it. As a result, Duff reflected on it nearly 20 years later. She admitted that it makes her emotional because after the ad, many young people approached her to thank her for it. She feels that it was very important to people.

“It was really impactful,” she told Gay Times. “And I remember loads and loads and loads of kids coming up to me just saying thank you. I think they felt represented and stood up for. And at that time – and in this time – it’s really important to feel safe and to feel seen.”

Duff acknowledged that people have found a “funny angle” to the video more recently. Still, she stands by the ad and believes it’s still important.

“It still means so much to so many people, and it’s still the right message,” she said. “The topic makes me really angry. It actually makes me want to cry, sorry. I feel sad that we’re in the place that we’re in. It’s 2026, who cares how anyone wants to be? Nobody’s bothering you. And I wish more people lived their life that way.”

People shared how the ad endeared them to her

Duff’s response to the ad has received celebration from fans. People said it reminded them of why they liked Duff.

“God I love this woman so much,” wrote one Reddit user.

“Hilary is someone I’ve never questioned being an ally,” added another person. “She did that commercial before it was popular to stand up for the LGBTQ+ community, did it when she was still at the peak of her career and has consistently shown her support throughout the years. I’m glad she continues to talk about. The way she teared up made me tear up a bit.”

They also noted that, as Duff said, the ad was important, even if it’s now memeable.

“For as much as it gets memed now (even at the time people made fun of it), it genuinely was a very important PSA,” one person wrote. “It genuinely hadn’t clicked for a lot of people that using ‘gay’ as a derogatory term for random things was problematic and I genuinely do believe the PSA helped in making people who were otherwise good people stop using the word in that manner.”