Take That’s Howard Donald axed from Nottingham Pride after liking transphobic and homophobic tweets

The musician was set to headline the LGBTIQA Festival, Groovebox, in July, alongside the likes of Horse Meat Disco, Essel and Sam Sax
Howard’s performance at the event was condemned by fans who noticed his recent online activity – his Twitter account has since been deleted

Take That’s Howard Donald has been axed from Nottingham Pride for liking a series of transphobic and homophobic tweets, with the singer saying he is ‘disappointed’ in himself in a grovelling apology.

The musician was set to headline the LGBTIQA Festival, Groovebox, in July, alongside the likes of Horse Meat Disco, Essel and Sam Sax.

Howard’s performance at the event was condemned by fans who noticed his recent online activity – his Twitter account has since been deleted.

Announcing the news in a statement on Friday, Nottingham Pride 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.’

Take That’s Howard Donald has been axed from Nottingham Pride after the singer liked a series of transphobic and homophobic tweets

They continued: ‘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 & ESSEL for Nottingham Pride and will make an announcement in due course.’

Sharing his own statement to Instagram, Howard wrote: ‘I have made a huge error in my judgement liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community and for that I a 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.’

MailOnline has contacted representatives for both Howard and Nottingham Pride for comment.

Prior to his account being taken down, Howard had liked Tweets such as: ‘Only women have periods! Men cannot menstruate. Transgender ‘women’ cannot menstruate,’ according to PinkNews.

Howard had also liked a Tweet from Turning Point UK founder Charlie Kirk as he called for Disney to be defunded for holding a pride concert.

Other Tweets included anti-vax messages and conspiracies.

Mistake: Howard’s performance at the event was condemned by fans who noticed his recent online activity – his Twitter account has since been deleted

Axed: The musician was set to headline the LGBTIQA Festival, Groovebox, in July (pictured with Take That bandmates Gary Barlow and Mark Owen this week)

Announcing the news in a statement on Friday, Nottingham Pride said: ‘In light of recent events, Howard Donald will no longer be playing at our Nottingham Pride Festival’

Sharing his own statement to Instagram, Howard wrote: ‘I have made a huge error in my judgement liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community’

Prior to his account being taken down, Howard had liked Tweets from Andrew Tate and Turning Point UK founder Charlie Kirk as he called for Disney to be defunded for holding a pride event

Take That, now a trio following the departure of Robbie Williams and Jason Orange, have been working on an album in recent months.

They are set to headline the British Summer Time festival and have just released a cinematic adaptation of Greatest Days – the hit musical about Take That.

Donald, who was also a judge on German reality talent show Got To Dance, was separately going to perform in Nottingham next month.