Charlie Condou has taken a swipe at Howard Donald for "cashing in on the pink pound".
Charlie Condou at the Attitude Pride Awards
The former 'Coronation Street' actor offered praise to the Spice Girls and Steps for being "consistent allies" to the LGBTQ+ community and urged the Take That star to look to them for how to conduct himself after he was recently dropped from appearing at a Pride festival after it emerged he had liked a series of transphobic tweets.
Speaking on stage at the Attitude Pride Awards in association with Magnum at London's The Langham hotel on Thursday (22.06.23), Charlie told host Emma Bunton: "I'd like to thank you and your girls for the overwhelming support you've given to our community over the best part of what, 30 years? We're getting on now.
"And also H and Claire, who are here, thank you for being consistent allies. That's how you do it, not by cashing in on the pink pound when it suits you and then liking homophobic and transphobic tweets on Twitter. Yes, that's you, Howard Donald."
Last week, the Take That apologised after he was dropped from headlining Groovebox in Nottingham, where he was due to perform next month, due to his activity on Twitter.
Howard said on an Instagram story on Saturday (17.06.23) he was “deeply sorry” after making a “huge error” by “liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community”.
He added: “I have made a huge error in my judgement (by) 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.”
Nottingham Pride said about ditching Howard from its bill: “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 Groovebox team stands in solidarity with the wider LGBTQ+ community, we believe every person has the right to be their authentic true self without fear of persecution and hatred.
“We are working on confirming a replacement headliner alongside Horse Meat Disco, Tayce, Danny Beard and ESSEL for Nottingham Pride and will make an announcement in due course.”
According to PinkNews, before his Twitter account was axed, Howard liked Tweets such as: “Only women have periods! Men cannot menstruate. Transgender ‘women’ cannot menstruate.”
Howard had also reportedly liked a tweet from Turning Point UK founder Charlie Kirk, 29, as he called for Disney to be defunded for holding a pride concert.
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