Ariana Grande drags anti-LGBT protester who disrupted concert
An anti-LGBT protestor disrupted fans on their way on an Ariana Grande concert. (Twitter/Instagram)
Ariana Grande has stood up for her LGBT+ fans, hitting back at an anti-gay protester who disrupted fans entering an arena for her Sweetener World Tour.
The ‘Thank U, Next’ singer said that she was “saddened but not surprised” by a video showing a homophobic protest taking place outside of her concert in Atlanta on Saturday (June 8).
The clip, which was shared on Twitter, shows a man holding a rainbow banner with the word Pride crossed out.
Several fans confronted the protester, pointing out that June is Pride month and asking him: “What kind of Christianity is this?”
He replied: “God wants you to repent.”
f*** these dudes outside the Ariana Grande concert spreading homophobia and being f****** stupid and it took EVERYTHING in me not to kick him in the balls with me heels on pic.twitter.com/ukd3wIvrMz
— ashlin ♀️ (@ashymakayla) June 9, 2019
Ariana Grande says anti-LGBT protester ‘outnumbered’
Grande told fans that she is “so sorry” that they “had to encounter this.”
“Proud of u all for not fighting / engaging violently. Never worth it,” she tweeted on Saturday (June 8).
“He is highly outnumbered. You are all so celebrated and loved and safe.”
Turning her attention to the protester, she added: “Wishing him peace and a healed heart cause girl yikes.
“You are all so celebrated and loved and safe.”
—Ariana Grande
“Also, he was doing the ‘Be Alright’ choreo in his garage later that night, I promise.”
Ariana Grande fans eject anti-LGBT protester
Jaden McDaniel attended the concert, and told PinkNews that there were “two men telling a group of people that the LGBTQ+ community is a mistake.”
“They brought up the Bible constantly,” he said, adding that the main protester started to “snatch Pride flags away from people” as more fans joined the row.
The protester was eventually forced to leave by fans, with a separate video showing crowds jeering him with chants of “goodbye.” Another shows one fan pouring a drink over the man’s head as he packs up his microphone.
“By the end of it someone had through his banner over the bridge, the speaker had been tipped over multiple times,” one witness wrote on Twitter.
“One of their headsets was taken out and tossed and then at the end a drink was poured on one. It was wild.”
The protester was doused with a drink while packing up his microphone. (Twitter/Luis Figueroa)
Grande will bring her Sweetener World Tour to the UK in August and September.
She will also headline Manchester Pride on August 25, two years after a terrorist exploded a bomb during her concert at the Manchester Arena.
Twenty-two people were killed in the attack, including gay Twitter icon Martyn Hett.
A fortnight after the bombing, Grande staged the One Love benefit concert which raised £2.35 million for the survivors and the families of victims. She was later made an honorary citizen of Manchester for her efforts, and reportedly turned a damehood.
