Riyadh Khalaf

Riyadh Khalaf (born 7 February 1991) is an Irish broadcaster, author, activist, and YouTube personality who has worked in the media industry in Ireland, Australia and the UK.

Early life

Born to Irish mother Lorraine and Iraqi father Sam, Khalaf is from Bray, County Wicklow. He attended Newpark Comprehensive School in Blackrock. Having not done well on his Leaving Certificate, he decided to pursue a career in media. He started his own pirate radio station at the age of 16. He studied at Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute and Ballyfermot College of Further Education, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Production Management.

Career

Khalaf began his YouTube channel whilst still in school, although his videos prior to 2013 are no longer available. During his studies at Ballyfermot, Khalaf landed radio gigs at Dublin's 98FM and SPIN 1038. Khalaf featured in the 2010 RTÉ One documentary series Growing Up Gay in which he discussed coming out to his at the time Catholic mother and Muslim father. The same year he took part in the Irish version of Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum that was broadcast on TV3. He also presented for Ireland's first temporary LGBT+ radio station, Open FM. He reported for RTÉ's Two Tube in 2012 and in 2013 for KIIS 106.5 in Sydney and KIIS 101.1 in Melbourne. Khalaf publicly campaigned for marriage equality (the "Yes vote") in the 2015 Irish constitutional referendums. His family's cars were attacked with acid in response.

Upon relocating to London in 2016, Khalaf briefly worked as a video producer for MailOnline. In 2017, Khalaf presented the six-part BBC Three documentary series Queer Britain and was an interviewer for Pride in London's Love Happens Here YouTube series. He produced and presented a short documentary I Am... in 2017. In May 2018, he began hosting a NSFW chat podcast Unexpected Fluids for BBC Radio 1 with Alix Fox. Khalaf created and uploaded Fighting for Pride: Swaziland, a documentary to his YouTube channel as part of #CreatorsForChange in 2018. Since November 2018, Khalaf has been a relief presenter on BBC Radio 1.

In 2019, Khalaf published his debut novel Yay! You're Gay! Now What? A Gay Boy's Guide to Life. That December, he took part in Celebrity Mastermind.

Khalaf's other presenting work includes the YouTube Red event Stream #WithMe to raise money for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic and a BBC Sounds podcast, Obsessed with... Normal People, with Evanna Lynch. He has periodically done work with BBC Radio 1 and guest presented The One Show.

Khalaf won the 15th series of BBC One's Celebrity MasterChef in 2020. He dedicated his semi-final dishes to his father.

Personal life

Khalaf moved to London in 2016. He has two cats named Claire and Luca, and a duck named Spike, who he rescued and nutured from egg; Riyadh has charted throughout his development journey on Instagram.

Bibliography

• Riyadh Khalaf (2019). Yay! You're Gay! Now What? A Gay Boy's Guide to Life. Frances Lincoln Children's Books. ISBN 978-1786031914.

Filmography

Audio