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19 June 2023

Take That’s Howard Donald dropped from Pride event over anti-LGBTQ+ Twitter likes

Groovebox’s Nottingham Pride is now looking for a replacement headliner

By Charlotte Manning

HOWARD DONALD
He was due to appear as a headliner at Groovebox's Nottingham Pride event (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Take That member Howard Donald has been axed from Groovebox’s Nottingham Pride line-up after it emerged he had ‘liked’ anti LGBTQ+ content on Twitter. 

Content visible in the liked section of Donald’s Twitter account over the weekend included tweets from misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, videos of anti-trans pundit Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Poise Parker) and a tweet from Turning Point US’ Charlie Kirk calling for Disney to be defunded.

Another tweet ‘liked’ by Donald criticised an inclusive menstruation campaign with the caption “only women have periods! Men cannot menstruate. Transgender ‘women’ cannot menstruate.”

Screenshots of the various tweets liked by Donald’s account quickly spread around the social media site, by concerned fans.

“We would like to offer our thanks to the public for alerting us to the situation” – Groovebox

It was soon brought to the attention of the festival, who swiftly dealt with the incident.

On Saturday (17 June), Groovebox confirmed they were looking into the incident, and shared an update hours later. 

Groovebox Nottingham Pride
Groovebox issued the following statement (Image: Twitter)

In a statement posted on social media, Groovebox said: “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.

“I am really disappointed in myself and I am sorry for any hurt that I caused” – Howard Donald

“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.”

Donald later posted an apology on his Instagram stories.

Howard Donald's apology
Donald called the ‘liked’ tweets ‘a huge error in judgement’ (Image: Instagram/@howarddonald)

He wrote: “I have made a huge error in my judgment liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community. 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.”

Howard Donald's Twitter profile
His profile has since been deactivated (Image: Twitter/@howarddonald)

The singer-songwriter has since appeared to deactivate his Twitter account. His profile no longer shows up on the social media site. 

It came after Nottinghamshire Pride’s organisers put out a tweet to clarify they were not affiliated with the Groovebox event. 

They tweeted: “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.”