Take That star Howard Donald has been dropped from appearing at Groovebox's Nottingham Pride Festival event in July following a series of tweets that he had liked which were critical of trans people. Donald had been due to perform at the Nottingham event on Saturday 29 July, which also features acts including Horse Meat Disco, Essel, Sam Sax and a drag cabaret from stars of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
He will now ne replaced by another act, according to reports. The singer, 55, has since apologised for his 'huge error'.
It comes after social media users had earlier questioned Donald's inclusion in the Pride line-up, highlighting some of his previous Twitter likes. According to reports, this includes one calling for Disney to be "defunded" after holding a Pride event, and another criticising an inclusive menstruation campaign with the message: "Only women have periods! Men cannot menstruate. Transgender 'women' cannot menstruate."
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Other likes from Donald's account included a tweet from controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate, claiming "the only superhero a boy should have is his father" and another listing "realities" including "there are only two genders," "coronavirus was a scam," and "obesity isn't beautiful or healthy".
His other likes included conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, criticism of Bill Gates and his charitable work and false theories around Covid vaccinations. In an Instagram story on Saturday, Donald wrote: “I have made a huge error in my judgement (by) liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community and for that, I am deeply sorry and I know I have let everyone down.
“I am really disappointed in myself and I am sorry for any hurt that I have caused by my uneducated actions. I clearly have a lot to learn and it’s a priority for me that I do this.”
Take That, now a trio following the departure of Robbie Williams and Jason Orange, have been working on an album in recent months. NottsPride has since tweeted about the incident, adding they are "concerned about this and we reject Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in our City".
They said in a statement: "It has been brought to our attention that there has been some anti LGBTQ+ endorsement from a performer at the Groovebox Pride Festival which has not been organised by Notts Pride. We are really concerned about this and we reject Homophobia,Transphobia and Biphobia in our City.
"We are Nottspride and we fight for our fabulous LGBTQ+ community every day. We want to make this very clear Groovebox Pride Festival has no association with NottsPride. We call on our fabulous LGBTQ+ community and allies to join us in our March for equality on 29/07/23. There is no place for hate in Nottingham."
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