Sir Elton John and David Furnish are set to host YouTube’s Pride 2021 event.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish
The ‘Tiny Dancer’ hitmaker and his husband will host YouTube Pride 2021 on the video platform on June 25 in celebration of Pride Month, which takes place throughout June.
Alongside Elton and David, LGBTQ+ stars including Demi Lovato, Olly Alexander and Mawaan Rizwan, Trixie Mattel, and Daniel Howell will also host Pride parties from their respective YouTube channels.
Tyler Oakley, Kim Chi, Monét X Change, Peppermint, and Denali Foxx will also join hosts throughout the live-streamed event.
During YouTube Pride 2021, viewers will enjoy musical performances, giving challenges, special guests, live moments and much more, but will also be encouraged to help the LGBTQ+ community by raising funds for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and The Trevor Project in the United States, as well as akt in the United Kingdom.
The news comes after Elton recently teamed up with Olly Alexander to perform a moving rendition of Pet Shop Boys hit ‘It’s A Sin’ at the BRIT Awards last month, after the song inspired the recent TV series of the same name in which Olly starred.
The series is set during the HIV and AIDs crisis in 1981, and before their performance, Elton’s husband David gave a moving speech in which he compared the crisis to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
He said: “When a new virus broke out in 2020, the whole world reacted immediately. Governments took action, cities closed down, scientists created vaccines, and we all talked about it night and day. Quite rightly, given the pain and suffering which has been reaped on so many people the world over.
“But when the same thing happened in 1981, there was silence. That was the year HIV arrived, but people with HIV and AIDs were treated with ignorance, fear, shame, and stigma. That silence allowed AIDs to grow into the greatest disease affecting our planet. But we fought back. Campaigners and activists and allies shouted down the silence and demanded to be heard. We refused to let men, women, and children die in shame, and by fighting together, we’ve changed the world.”
David went on to say there is now light at the end of the tunnel for those living with the illness, but encouraged people to continue fighting to “banish” the stigma attached to it.
He added: “Today, HIV is no longer a death sentence. Now it’s a condition you can manage with just one pill a day. Medicine makes the virus undetectable, which means it’s untransmittable, so the fight goes on until we can banish stigma, ignorance, fear, and the virus itself, forever.”
Tagged in David Furnish Demi Lovato Sir Elton John