Take That frontman Howard Donald has found himself axed from headlining an upcoming festival, after he liked a series of transphobic and homophobic posts on Twitter. Donald was set to top the bill at Nottingham's Groovebox next weekend, but organisers made the decision to cull him completely after outraged fans started sharing screenshots of his online activity.
As well as Tweets criticising transgender and homosexual communities, fans of Take That were also shocked and appalled to see the pop star favourite a post by the always controversial Andrew Tate - who is currently being investigated for people trafficking. Outraged fans called upon the Pride event to remove Howard from the bill, branding him a 'hateful hypocrite'.
Meanwhile, Donald responded to the backlash by disappearing from and deleting his Twitter page. Following mounting pressure, Groovebox today confirmed that he had been cut from the line-up.
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The Mirror reports that in a statement, they wrote: "In light of recent events, Howard Donald will no longer be playing at our Nottingham Pride Festival on Saturday 29th July at Binks Yard. 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."
The festival also added that they were working on their line up. Donald on the other hand, issued a statement of his own in the form of an apology - citing that he was 'deeply sorry' and 'really disappointed in himself'.
Taking to Instagram, he wrote: "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."
Prior to his social media slamming, Howard's 'liked' posts included a shot of a poster advertising a Pride concert by Disney with a caption 'Defund Disney'. Another post that was favourited, read: "Washington in the USA just passed a law that the state can TAKE your children from you if you don't allow them to transition. They are coming for your kids now."
The boyband star also liked an image from an inclusive menstruation campaign, captioned: "Only women have periods! Men cannot menstruate. Transgender 'women' cannot menstruate."
Meanwhile, he also favoured some parenting advice from Andrew Tate, which read: "The only superhero a boy should have is his father. If your son idolizes fiction it's because you're so unspectacular you can't even impress a child."
Following his posts gaining infamy, concerned fans and critics alike voiced their opinions on social media. Among them was Britain's first transgender national TV presenter, India Willoughby. Taking to Twitter, India fumed: "Deeply disappointing to see Take That’s Howard Donald liking transphobic and homophobic tweets - while playing Pride festivals.
"The LGBT community made that band. And no, being homophobic or transphobic is not just “a different opinion.""
Nottingham Pride organisers have also spoken out at the unfolding situation, writing: "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."
Howard has since un-liked the posts in question and deleted his Twitter account. The Mirror have contacted him for comment.
Groovebox goes ahead without him on the 24th and 25th of June.
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