amazing

‘Heartstopper’ stars dance in front of anti-LGBTQ bigots at Pride London

Heartstopper focuses on a romance between two teen boys in the UK
Kit Connor and Joe Locke in Heartstopper (Photo: Netflix)

The lead actors from Netflix queer drama Heartstopper were among those to lead the Pride in London parade in the UK on Saturday.

Video footage has emerged of some of the cast members flipping the finger, and dancing, in front of anti-LGBTQ religious zealots. The protestors stood with placards behind a barrier. One can be heard shouting about God’s condemnation via a megaphone.

One Pride-goer, not believed to be part of the Heartstopper cast, can be seen trying to wrestle one of the protestor’s signs from their hands, but police intervene and he gives up.

Related: ‘Heartstopper’ star Kit Connor addresses gay rumors on Twitter

In the video, lead actor Joe Locke, wrapped in a Pride flag, can be seen bouncing up and down while showing his middle finger to the protestors. Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ plays loudly in the background from a parade float.

It was shared by Pink News, who praised Locke’s actions and energy. Locke reshared the clip and caption on his own Twitter, saying, “Had to do my job properly”. His tweet has had over 165,000 likes and prompted thousands of comments.

Co-star Kit Connor, who plays Locke’s love interest in the teen drama, also re-shared footage. He points out that he’s not in the video because he was busy taking video himself. Still, he was “screaming at them but please don’t be mistaken, it wasn’t ’Kit Connor and the rest of the cast’, it was @joelocke03 and @SebastianCroft front and centre. Please give them the credit for doing something so powerful.”

Heartstopper actor Sebastian Croft caught footage from a slightly different angle.

Related: Kit Connor is “perfectly confident” with his sexuality and he’s not here for anyone’s assumptions

Saturday’s event in the UK capital is believed to have attracted over 1million people. Besides the Heartstopper stars, veteran members of the Gay Liberation Front, who organized the first Gay Pride March in London in 1972, also had a prominent position at the front of the event.

Heartstopper has proved a hit with audiences since it made its debut in April. Netflix has since confirmed it has commissioned two further seasons of the show.

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