Heartstopper cast troll anti-LGBTQ+ protest during London pride parade | indy100

Heartstopper cast members confront anti-LGBT protesters at Pride in London

Scott Beasley

The cast of hit coming-of-age drama Heartstopper has been pictured holding hands in solidarity during Pride in London and also found time to troll and anti-LGBTQ+ protest.

Joe Locke and Kit Connor, who star as Charlie and Nick in the acclaimed Netflix show, were among those marching through the capital on Saturday afternoon.

Jenny Walser, Sebastian Croft, Tobie Donovan, Corinna Brown and Kizzy Edgell were also pictured at the event.

Pride in London parade 2022 The Pride march passes near Trafalgar Square (James Manning/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - James Manning

However, their joyous scene was briefly interrupted when two elderly men attempted to disrupt the festivities with anti-LGBTQ+ slogans and banners.

One of the participants in the parade decided that this wasn't going to stand and attempt to put a stop to the protest by himself and was cheered on by the Heartstopper cast.

Sky News journalist Scott Beasley captured the incident while the Whitney Houston classing 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' can be heard blasting out of a nearby speaker while police attempted to stop the incident from getting too out of hand.

\u201cThe stars of Heartstopper absolutely loving it as anti-LGBT protesters are challenged by a young Pride supporter #Pride\u201d
— Scott Beasley (@Scott Beasley) 1656764269

Unsurprisingly people loved this bold act of defiance from the actors.

\u201cjoe locke and sebastian croft singing dancing and flipping off homophobes at pride is exactly what the world needed\u201d
— zoe\ud83c\udf42PINNED! | LOVES BASH!!!!!!! (cast pr manager) (@zoe\ud83c\udf42PINNED! | LOVES BASH!!!!!!! (cast pr manager)) 1656765143

\u201cThe cast of \u2018Heartstopper\u2019 dance in front of anti-LGBTQ+ protestors at London Pride.\n\n\u201d
— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1656776819

\u201cWhy do we need Pride? Because people still feel the need to protest our existence \ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffb\ud83c\udf08\u201d
— Adam Bailey (@Adam Bailey) 1656776797

\u201cI love that the officer clearly didn't want to stop the person pulling down the hateful sign... Just gave him a polite wave to move on lmao\u201d
— \ud80c\udc5b \ud835\ude59\u0279\ud835\ude63\ud835\ude6f\ud835\ude6f\u0259\u028e \ud80c\udc5e (@\ud80c\udc5b \ud835\ude59\u0279\ud835\ude63\ud835\ude6f\ud835\ude6f\u0259\u028e \ud80c\udc5e) 1656776236

\u201cthis makes me happy and sad at the same time \ud83d\udc97\ud83d\udc94\u201d
— anne wizorek (@anne wizorek) 1656774294

Elsewhere, photos reposted by the official Heartstopper Instagram page show some of the group with LGBT rainbow flags draped over their shoulders.

The group also helped carry a huge rainbow parachute spanning the width of the street.

Sky News reporter Scott Beasley later shared a video appearing to show some of the cast dancing to the Whitney Houston track I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) in front of a group of anti-LGBT protestors.

It comes after cast members from the show featured in a special Pride-themed episode of Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox on Friday night.

Based on the popular graphic novels by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper follows the lives of Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson after they meet at school and fall in love.

After the series launched on Netflix in April, it developed a huge fan base and reached the streaming service’s top 10 list in 54 countries.

In May, Netflix announced it had renewed the show for a further two series.

Additional reporting by PA.

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