Take That’s Howard Donald has been dropped from an upcoming Pride festival after liking tweets he admitted were 'derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community'. Outraged fans shared screenshots of tweets he had 'favourited', before organisers at festival Groovebox in Nottingham decided to remove him from the line-up, the Mirror reports.
He was due to headline. Responding to the backlash, Donald, originally from Droylsden, Tameside, deleted his twitter page.
Groovebox confirmed on Saturday that Donald had been removed from the line-up. Bosses said in a statement: "In light of recent events, Howard Donald will no longer be playing at our Nottingham Pride Festival on Saturday 29th July at Binks Yard.
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"We would like to offer our thanks to the public for alerting us to the situation this morning and also appreciate your patience whilst we spoke to the relevant parties," before adding they were working on adding to their line-up.
Donald issued a statement, reading: "I have made a huge error in my judgement liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community and for that I a 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."
Donald has since unliked several posts and deleted his Twitter page. The Mirror contacted the star for comment. The Take That singer was due to headline the festival on June 24 and 25.
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