Manchester Pride has announced that Ariana Grande is to headline the the event, but The Voice finalist, Lauren Bannon and Pride’s Got Talent finalist Andrea Di Giovanni have branded the announcement as “The straight cis white-washing of Pride”.
THEGAYUK.com reached out to Manchester Pride to ask if there were reductions on offer, but they did not return comment.
Andrea Di Giovanni told THEGAYUK “Ariana Grande has been chosen to headline Manchester Pride 2019 and that’s unacceptable, especially right now in a moment where the LGBTQ+ community faces continuous attacks by politicians, press and overall media.
“The straight cis white-washing of Pride celebrations has reached its peak and we, as a community, need to stand up and truly focus on highlighting our own beautifully diverse talents. Ariana headlines Manchester, Kylie Minogue Brighton and Kate Nash & M.O. Birmingham; are we blind or we don’t want to see it?”
The controversial artist continued, “I’m not against allies, we need them but I am against a queerbaiting process that has its chore pure capitalism. It’s not a surprise, in fact, that Manchester Pride this year asks its participants to pay £70 a ticket to access the main stage area, compared to the £22 price of last year – pride is an honour of the people, a protest, not a concert to celebrate straight art! We do this every day.”
Speaking about the controversial price hike, Lauren said, “For the prices to go from £22 to £75… now that’s a joke. I have no problem with straight performers, allies and the like, but when none of the biggest pride celebrations has a single LGBTQ+ headline, it highlights the lack of representation we have in the mainstream industry.
“As for the price increases that follow these ‘Major Acts’ when did pride just become another capitalist venture? It’s supposed to be a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, it should be accessible to all but by hiking up the prices it’s just making it less obtainable and disrespecting the whole purpose as to why we have a day like pride!”
