Take That's Howard Donald dropped from Groovebox Nottingham Pride event following Twitter controversy
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Take That singer Howard Donald has been removed from the Groovebox Nottingham Pride Festival line-up.
He was set to co-headline the Groovebox event next month alongside Horse Meat Disco, ESSEL and Sam Sax.
However, Howard's Likes on his Twitter page included criticism of an inclusive period campaign featuring trans men, as well as videos of anti-trans pundit Kellie-Jay Keen and a tweet calling for Disney to be "defunded" over holding a Pride in Concert event. There were also Likes of tweets from misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate.
As of Saturday (June 17), his Twitter account has been deactivated.
In response to the likes, Groovebox Nottingham Pride said in an official 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.
"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."
Groovebox Nottingham Pride Festival is separate from Notts Pride festival, and prior to Howard's dismissal, the Notts Pride official Twitter wrote in a thread: "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 Notts Pride 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."
Related: Take That's Howard Donald isn't a fan of the "shite" X Factor
Howard has since posted a statement on Instagram Stories which reads: "I have made a huge error in my judgement 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."
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