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 Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 32,600 making it the ninth largest urban area within Ireland (at the 2016 census). Bray is ...

. He attended

Newpark Comprehensive School Newpark Comprehensive School () is a mixed, Church of Ireland, state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newsp ...

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a Enterprise risk management, risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackR ...

. Having not done well on his

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

, he decided to pursue a career in media. He started his own

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station at the age of 16. He studied at Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute and

Ballyfermot College of Further Education Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE; ) is an educational institution in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, a college of further and higher education. Management Ballyfermot College of Further Education is managed by the City of Dubl ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Media Production Management.

Career

Khalaf began his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

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 98FM is a local radio station in Dublin, Ireland, operated by Bauer Media Audio Ireland, under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The station broadcasts on the 98.1 MHz FM frequency. 98FM's broadca ...

and SPIN 1038. Khalaf featured in the 2010

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

documentary series ''

Growing Up Gay ''Growing Up Gay'' was a groundbreaking two-part documentary series broadcast on RTÉ One, which began on Monday 19 April 2010 at 9.35pm (after the main evening news). It explored the experiences of the first generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual ...

'' in which he discussed

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

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 ''Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum'' is a British entertainment reality series which aired on BBC Three. The series follows a group of young adults who have been waited on hand and foot their whole lives. The series sees them living together in a h ...

'' 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 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

'' in 2012 and in 2013 for

KIIS 106.5 KIIS 1065 (call sign: 2WFM) is a commercial FM radio station in Sydney, Australia, on a frequency of 106.5 MHz. KIIS 1065 is one of the flagship stations on ARN's KIIS Network. The station's headline show is ''The Kyle and Jackie O Show''. ...

in Sydney and

KIIS 101.1 KIIS 1011 (official callsign: 3TTT) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on a frequency of 101.1 MHz and is the Melbourne affiliate of ARN's KIIS Network. The station was formerly known as 3DB ...

in Melbourne. Khalaf publicly campaigned for marriage equality (the "Yes vote") in the

2015 Irish constitutional referendums The government of Ireland held referendums on 22 May 2015 on two proposed amendments to the Constitution of Ireland which had been recommended by the Constitutional Convention. The amendment to permit same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland w ...

. His family's cars were attacked with acid in response. Upon relocating to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2016, Khalaf briefly worked as a video producer for

MailOnline MailOnline (also known as ''dailymail.co.uk'') is the website of the '' Daily Mail'', a newspaper in the United Kingdom, and of its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday''. MailOnline is a division of dmg media, which is owned by Daily Mail and Gen ...

. In 2017, Khalaf presented the six-part

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

documentary series ''Queer Britain'' and was an interviewer for

Pride in London Pride in London is an annual LGBT pride festival and parade held each summer in London, England. The event, which was formerly run by Pride London, is sometimes referred to as London Pride. Pride in London celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ ...

'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 Not safe for work (NSFW) is Internet slang or shorthand used to mark links to content, videos, or website pages the viewer may not wish to be seen looking at in a public, formal or controlled environment. The marked content may contain nudity, p ...

chat podcast ''Unexpected Fluids'' for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

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 ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. It began in 2002 as a one-off special, expanding to the current arrangement of 10 episodes, broadcast during December a ...

''. Khalaf's other presenting work includes the

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

event Stream #WithMe to raise money for the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic and a

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a Closed platform, walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile pho ...

podcast, ''Obsessed with...

Normal People ''Normal People'' is a 2018 novel by the Irish author Sally Rooney. ''Normal People'' is Rooney's second novel, published after '' Conversations with Friends'' (2017). It was first published by Faber & Faber on 30 August 2018. The book became a ...

'', with

Evanna Lynch Evanna Patricia Lynch (born 16 August 1991) is an Irish actress and activist. She is best known for portraying Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter (film series), ''Harry Potter'' film series. Born in County Louth, Ireland, Lynch made her film de ...

. He has periodically done work with

and guest presented ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

''. Khalaf won the 15th series of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

'' in 2020. He dedicated his semi-final dishes to his father.

Personal life

Khalaf moved to London in 2016 where he now shares a flat with his partner, Josh Harrison, a DJ and founder of Out Haus, and their cat Claire.

Bibliography

Filmography

Audio

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalaf, Riyadh Living people 1991 births 21st-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish non-fiction writers Irish expatriates in England Irish people of Iraqi descent Irish podcasters Irish radio presenters Irish television personalities Irish YouTubers Irish LGBT broadcasters Irish LGBT entertainers LGBT YouTubers People from Bray, County Wicklow Reality cooking competition winners 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people