‘The Voice’: Asher HaVon on Being the First Openly LGBTQ+ Winner and Working With Reba McEntire (Exclusive)

Asher made ‘The Voice’ history on Tuesday as Reba’s first winner — and the first openly LGBTQ+ ‘Voice’ champion.

Reba McEntire won her first-ever title on The Voice with season 25 singer Asher HaVon — and that wasn’t the only bit of history the duo made on Tuesday.

ET’s Cassie DiLaura caught up with the singer and his winning coach following the big announcement to get their thoughts on Asher being the first-ever openly LGBTQ+ singer to win the NBC singing competition. (Season 8 winner Sawyer Fredericks came out as bisexual in 2022 — seven years after winning the show at age 16.)

“I am so proud to be a part of that community, and I just pray that everything that I’ve done on this show have inspired them all that, they can do the same thing,” Asher marveled.

“Working with a queen like this,” he praised his coach, who applauded his victory, “thank y’all so much.”

Reba shared that she was “tickled to pieces” to notch her first Voice victory since joining the show last season, adding, “It feels wonderful.”

Asher HaVon became the first openly-LGBTQ+ winner of ‘The Voice’ in season 25. – Casey Durkin/NBC via Getty Images
“But I got to say something about The Voice — look how Asher is dressed,” she continued. “Every time you got on stage, you looked regal.  You presented yourself with regalness. I was so proud of him.”

The tears kept flowing for the duo as Asher joked, “I put too much mascara on!”

“But I was so excited,” he added. “My heart was filled with so much gratitude and to look at Reba and to see her excitement, it was everything.”

As for the lessons the duo learned from one another, Asher joked, “I’ve been crying most of our sessions [so I don’t know] what you can learn!”

However, Reba recalled one important bonding moment.

“There was one song you were going to sing, and you said, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to perform this — I don’t know, I can’t relate to it,'” she recalled. “I said, ‘Think of somebody who can relate to it and channel that.’ That’s what I’ve been doing for 30, 40 years in my business. If I am singing about a situation I’ve never dealt with, channel somebody who has.”

Asher surprised some when he joined Team Reba after earning a three-chair turn for his Blind Audition performance of Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.” However, he’s been a team standout since, winning both his Battle — with “We Don’t Need Another Hero” by Tina Turner — and Knockout — with a show-stopping performance of Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart.”

He busted out another epic performance in the Playoffs, lending his vocal power to “Titanum” by David Guetta and Sia before showing his versatility in the live shows, with Boyz II Men’s seductive “I’ll Make Love to You” and the Beyoncé breakup ballad “Irreplaceable.”

Asher showed off even more of his range in the first night of the finale taking on two iconic divas with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Asher and Reba kept it old school with their finale performance, taking the stage with a rendition of Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s “On My Own.”

ET spoke with the season 25 coaches ahead of part one of the finale on Monday night, and Reba shared how excited she was for the star-studded finale, which also featured performances from The Black Keys, Jelly Roll, Kate Hudson, Lainey Wilson, Muni Long, Thomas Rhett, and season 24 winner Gina Miles.

“So many great entertainers hitting the building,” she marveled. “Not only the artists who have been competing all this time for The Voice trophy but our guest stars. I’m so thrilled!”