In a surprising turn of events, Howard Donald, a renowned member of the popular pop group Take That, has been dropped from the line-up of Groovebox’s highly anticipated Nottingham Pride Festival.
The decision came after it was discovered that the singer-songwriter had ‘liked’ transphobic content on Twitter, leading to a swift social media backlash.
Previously, Donald had been prominently featured as a headline act for the Pride event, scheduled to take place on July 29th at Blinks Yard in Nottingham. However, Groovebox has since confirmed that he will no longer be headlining or appearing at the festival, effective immediately.
The controversy surrounding Donald arose when a number of tweets he had ‘liked’ garnered attention for their transphobic nature.
In response to the public outcry, Groovebox released a statement via social media, stating, “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. We are working on confirming a replacement headliner alongside Horse Meat Disco, Tayce, Danny Beard & ESSEL for Nottingham Pride and will make an announcement in due course.”
The tweets that Donald had reportedly ‘liked’ included content from Andrew Tate, posts criticising an inclusive period campaign featuring trans men, videos of anti-trans pundit Kellie-Jay Keen (also known as Posie Parker), and a tweet from Charlie Kirk, the founder of right-wing organization Turning Point USA, calling for Disney to be “defunded” for holding a Pride in Concert event on June 24th and 25th.
Following Groovebox’s statement confirming his removal, Howard Donald took to Instagram to issue an apology on his Stories.
Expressing remorse, he wrote, “I have made a huge error in my judgment 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 caused by my uneducated actions. I clearly have a lot to learn, and it’s a priority for me that I do this.”
Despite this setback, the Groovebox Nottingham Pride Festival will still feature other notable headliners, including Horse Meat Disco, ESSEL, and Sam Sax. Additionally, attendees can look forward to a captivating drag cabaret by Danny Beard, Sminty Drop, and Tayce, all of whom are alumni of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
