Over the past few days, Ariana Grande has found herself in the middle of a spirited discussion regarding her participation in Manchester Pride.

It all started after Twitter user @raininjulyvinyl pointed out that the recent announcement of Grande headlining Manchester Pride felt a little bit exploitative. The tweet reads: “idk …. ariana headlining pride when she’s straight (as far as we’re all aware) …. and doubling the price of tickets …. kinda smells like exploitation of the lgbt community to me …..”

That tweet went on to be retweeted more than 17,000 times, prompting Grande to respond to it with a long note explaining her decision. She says that she had nothing to do with ticket pricing, and she reiterated her support for the LGBTQ community.

“I want to celebrate and support this community, regardless of my identity or how people label me. And also I wanna visit a city that means so much to me,” she wrote. “LGBTQ representation is incredibly important, and I’m always proud to share the stage with LGBTQ artists!”


And now Grande has found support in two out musicians: Years and Years’ Olly Alexander and MNEK.

In a tweet, Alexander pointed out that while he would like to see more LGBTQ artists headlining Pride events, there are often very real needs that have to be considered.

““I’d love to see more LGBT+ headliners across all bills, the reality is line ups are a mix of artists depending on their availability and the need to sell tickets,” he wrote. “Pride’s normally raise money so they can put on their events and donate to various (usually local) causes.”

MNEK also pointed out that if people wanted to see LGBTQ acts headline more Pride celebrations, people should go out and support those artists.

“You need to buy LGBTQ artists’ music, and buy their concert tickets, and support LGBTQ artists,” he said in a video posted to his Twitter account.


Are there any LGBTQ artists you guys would like to see headline Pride? Tell us about them in the comments section below!

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