Singer-songwriter Paul Heaton has been praised online for calling out homophobic abuse at a recent gig in London.
The Beautiful South and The Housemartins star was reflecting on his show at the 02 Arena in London back in December and said that despite thousands of smiling faces, a small group of men verbally abused two women.
Heaton and singing partner Jacqui Abbott hit the road in November as part of their 2022 headline tour in support of their fifth studio album along with support act Billy Bragg - though Abbott was forced to pull out of several dates, including one in Manchester, due to illness.
Taking to Twitter to address the issue, Paul said: "12,000 smiling faces at our recent London o2 show. Sadly amongst them, a group of 4 men chose to verbally abuse 2 gay women.
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"A message to those men- If you can't show respect, then keep your filth away. Pls(sic) notify security if you witness fellow fans being threatened in this manner."
The tweet, which was shared on January 3, was liked more than 5,000 times and retweeted by other 300 Twitter users. Responding to the tweet, one person wrote: "Well said Paul… thank you for calling this out", while another wrote: "If all bands and artists show your respect then the world would be a better place", and a third called Heaton a "real good guy" and "true gentleman" for calling out the behaviour.
The tweet was shared with pictures of the crowd, and one Twitter user who was at the London gig retweeted and said: "Amongst the sea of acceptance. Was proud to be a part of the crowd who cheered along following Billy Bragg's updated lyrics of Sexuality. The vast majority of us support the LGBTQ+ community, and their hate will not divide us."
Another, who was dismayed by the behaviour wrote: "Been to a few of your concerts and always found the people attending to be very friendly and a good bunch. What a shame for the two women, I hope it doesn't put them going off to future concerts. I always think music brings people together with no prejudice mostly."
Others called the behaviour "awful", while one person said "calling people out is the only way". A final Twitter user wrote: "Well said. There is NO PLACE for people like that (Any form of discrimination) at your concerts.. Everyone is there to have a brill time alongside everyone else (I met a cracking bunch of people at O2 and by the power of SM I've found them)."
Paul Heaton also won praise back in December at his Manchester gig, which fell on the same night that England lost to France in the 2022 World Cup. Playing without Jacqui Abbott, who was having issues with her throat, the performer not only organised for the football to be shown ahead of the gig at the AO Arena, but also arranged alternative entertainment in the venue's foyer area for those who didn't want to watch the match.
Despite England losing, the singer was able to raise the crowd's spirits with a joyful concert that covered a number of Housemartins and Beautiful South classics. Both Heaton and Abbott will be back in the region in May when they play at Neighbourhood Weekender, which takes place at Victoria Park in Warrington.
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