The 2020 Virtual Pride event has been cancelled after coming under fire for its political affiliations in recent weeks.
Dannii Minogue, Sonia, and Hazell Dean were among the acts scheduled to appear as part of the programming, but the broadcast was called off the event’s ties to an anti-LGBTQ+ politician were uncovered.
“It is with a heavy heart, after careful consideration that we must cancel next week’s #VirtualPride event,” organisers tweeted alongside a statement.
In the two-page note, organisers explained, “It was brought to our attention a few days ago that there were concerns on our website about transparency regarding charity numbers.
It is with a heavy heart, after careful consideration that we must cancel next week's #VirtualPride event.
— Virtual Pride 2020 (@VirtualPride20) May 13, 2020
Please see our official statement below… pic.twitter.com/nQCoqFLv3H
“Once these concerns were raised, Virtual Pride clarified to the person who had emailed us directly.”
They continued: “The person emailing us then searched through our team’s personal social media accounts and found that our festival director liked a few tweets about Brexit written by a politician who in the past has spoken against the LGBT+ community.
“We were privately discussing this issue with a leading LGBT+ campaigner – who has affiliations with a leading LGBT+ publication – and learnt they wanted to drop out of the event because a member of our team has a political opinion about Brexit that is shared by a politician who has other opinions about sexuality.”
After several acts slated to appear in the broadcast “felt the need to step away from Virtual Pride,” the event was eventually cancelled.
However, they insisted: “Our festival director is not and will never be apologetic for his political persuasion.”
One of the show’s presenters, Grant Bicknell, stepped down from his role earlier this week following the scandal. He’ll be discussing the controversy on Instagram Live tonight.
Hazell Dean and LGBTQ+ publication DIVA previously withdrew their support from the show.
Explaining the publication’s decision to step away from the event, Linda Riley, publisher of DIVA magazine, tweeted: “Apparently I’m a ‘political bigot’ because @DIVAmagazine has withdrawn any support of #VirtualPride as one of the organisers supports @Nigel_Farage & @toadmeister.
Apparently I’m a ‘political bigot’ because @DIVAmagazine has withdrawn any support of #VirtualPride as one of the organisers supports @Nigel_Farage & @toadmeister For clarity any #LGBTQ event which supports the likes of these, will not have my support #proudtobeapoliticalbigot ?
— Linda Riley (@LindaRiley8) May 12, 2020
“For clarity any #LGBTQ event which supports the likes of these, will not have my support #proudtobeapoliticalbigot.”
