March 12, 2015
Street Performer Drowns Out Anti-Gay Preacher With Cyndi Lauper Jam
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
A street performer from Australia, caused a stir in Sydney this week when he played Cyndi Lauper's hit "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" Saturday to drown out the anti-gay rhetoric from a nearby open air preacher, BuzzFeed reports.
Axel Winter, 24, has been lauded by users on social media for covering Lauper's iconic '80s jam to block out the hateful message from the street preacher, who was standing on a step ladder with a microphone and a Bible, yelling "today is the day that God hates you the most if you're homosexual."
The incident occurred at the Mardi Gras festival, which runs from the end of February through the end of the first week of March in Sydney, and is one of the biggest LGBT rights events in the world. Thousands attend the celebration and, according to the Independent, brings in more than $30 million each year for the city.
Winter said on social media that he felt like he "had to do something" so he and his friends set up near the preacher and started playing music. On Facebook, he said he was "taking a stand for equality."
"Yesterday, a man tried to yell hateful religiously inspired things about gay people in Pitt street mall," Winter wrote. "So, myself and the other buskers moved my stuff behind him and drowned out his negativity. The crowd cheered and sang along and soon enough he was gone.
"Whether you're homosexual or transgender or even just confused, you're still my friend," he added.
Winter spoke with the Independent and said the crowd was starting to become aggressive against the preacher so he persuaded them to listen to his music instead.
"He was saying some very demeaning things, like 'today, God hates you the most if you are a homosexual,'" the singer told the publication. "I then proceeded to take a stand, so I took my gear over behind him and asked the crowd to ignore his words of hate and come and sing some words of love."
After receiving support from people on Facebook and Twitter, Winter wrote he was "overwhelmed" by the positive feedback.
Watch a clip of Winter performing below:
