“Obviously, there’s a lot of parts of this country where people don’t feel safe so we have to band together to make people as safe as we can,” country music star Orville Peck told the audience at the WeHo Pride’s Outloud music festival on Saturday, referring to the wave of anti-trans and anti-drag legislation that is upending lives and spreading fear in states across the country, including Texas and Florida. But, noted Peck, a judge in Tennessee had just a day earlier ruled that the state’s recently passed law forbidding drag performances in public is unconstitutional, drawing cheers from the thousands in the crowd.
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That scene, mixing politics, purpose and performance, was one of many similar ones that unfolded throughout the second annual WeHo Pride, held over the weekend of June 2-4 in West Hollywood, California.
On Sunday, at the WeHo Pride Parade, Melissa McCarthy topped off her rainbow-colored outfit with a headpiece that said “Say Gay,” a rebuke to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill for its restrictions on talking about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools in the state. Throughout the parade, many marchers carried signs that said “Drag Is Not a Crime” in protest of the current wave of anti-drag legislation in the U.S.
McCarthy — who was named an “Icon” of the WeHo Pride Parade — hung out for an hour after the parade to take photos with fans.
Also making the day were fellow event “Icons” Niecy Nash-Betts (wearing outsize feathered rainbow wings) and her wife Jessica Betts; trans model Laith Ashley (who appeared as Taylor Swift’s love interest in the music video for “Lavender Haze”) and drag queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race, who rode in a large bus along the parade route on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Other celebs making the scene were Barbie actors Alexandra Shipp and Scott Evans, there as part of the float celebrating the upcoming summer movie.
Unfolding over three days and bookending the parade, WeHo’s OutLoud music festival included performances by Carly Rae Jepsen, Passion Pit and more performing on a large stage inside West Hollywood Park.
The music fest, created by producer Jeff Consoletti, drew a slew of celebrities.
Spotted in the crowd over the course of the weekend were Hannah Waddingham, there to see Idina Menzel perform on Friday; Demi Lovato, who showed up to see singer Rayvon Owens; Olivia Wilde who caught a performance by Santigold; and Sharon Stone and Tiffany Haddish, who were in the audience for a late Saturday night set by Grace Jones, who took to the stage in looks including a black-and-white number emblazoned with Keith Haring imagery. Jones, though, gave props to the audience for their array of interesting looks: “You are the show,” she said from the stage. “I’m just the sideshow here. I could just stand here and check all of you out.”
Scroll further for more pics from WeHo Pride 2023.
The Barbie Float at the WeHo Pride Parade:
Carly Rae Jepsen at Outloud Music Festival:
Santigold at Outloud Music Festival:
Luxx Noir London at Outloud Music Festival:
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