Los Angeles:
The organisers of Boston’s straight pride has removed the pictures of Hollywood star Brad Pitt, hours after the actor threatened to sue them.
The group, Super Happy Fun America, are planning to hold a pride parade for heterosexuals in August. It claims to advocate on “behalf of the straight community” and describes straight people as “an oppressed majority”.
The parade is intended as a counter-event to the LGBTQ celebrations that have been held in honour of Pride this June.
The group were using the actor’s name and image to promote the event, with a message on their site stating.
Sources close to Pitt told The Hollywood Reporter that his representative threatened the group with legal action if they do not remove the actor’s images.
The site’s homepage now displays an amended version of its previous announcement, redacting the actor’s name and declaring the images censored .
In another post, the group claimed that they have found their new mascot — the controversial author and far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos.
“Due to a scheduling conflict, our former mascot is no longer available. Not to worry, we found someone younger, more handsome, and more in tune with heroic masculine virtues.
“Milo Yiannopoulos has accepted the offer to be mascot and Grand Marshall of the parade!” the post read.
Earlier, “Avengers: Endgame” star Chris Evan had lashed out at the group for planning to organise straight pride parade.
“Wow! Cool initiative, fellas!! Just a thought, instead of ‘Straight Pride’ parade, how about this: The ‘desperately trying to bury our own gay thoughts by being homophobic because no one taught us how to access our emotions as children’ parade? Whatta ya think? Too on the nose?,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, the 37-year-old actor pointed out the discrimination the LGBTQ community faces on the daily basis and asked others to “search for empathy and growth”.
“Wow, the number gay/straight pride parade false equivalencies are disappointing. For those who don’t understand the difference, see below. Instead of going immediately to anger (which is actually just fear of what you don’t understand) take a moment to search for empathy and growth,” Evans said.
