Adele recently went viral for criticising a heckler who shouted “Pride sucks” during one of her shows in Las Vegas, but it appears that the singer may have misheard the crowd member.
The star was performing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace last Saturday (June 1) – which coincided with the start of Pride Month – as part of her ongoing Weekends With Adele residency.
At one point in the concert, a male attendee interrupted Adele speaking with an apparent homophobic remark.
“Did you come to my fucking show and just say that Pride sucks? Are you fucking stupid?” she fired back. “Don’t be so fucking ridiculous. If you have nothing nice to say, shut up. Alright?”
However, a longer fan-shot clip shows that Adele had been speaking about her busy work schedule before the man shouted out.
“Friday’s basically the beginning of my week, you know, because that’s when I work, basically,” she told the audience. “So it’s sort of like the weekdays are my weekend, an extra long weekend.”
It was during the latter sentence that the man yelled “Pride sucks”. But some fans have claimed that Adele misheard him and that he actually shouted “work sucks” in response to her comments.
@diego_jayyy Adele calls out homophobic fan during the vegas residency @Adele Access #adele #fyp #foryoupage #4youpage #pridemonth #happypride #lasvegas #parati #adeleresidency #cesarspalace
Recommended
On X/Twitter, music and pop culture account Mr. Pop wrote: “Someone at the concert shares that the man actually said ‘work sucks’ and not ‘Pride sucks’.”
A user replied: “Yeah I was in the section next to him. He said work sucks because she mentioned something about working.” They added that the moment “was all very awkward”.
In the comments section of a clip on TikTok, someone posted: “No. I’m pretty sure he said ‘work sucks’. The context of Adele’s conversation was about ‘working’.” Another fan said: “As much as I love Adele but she definitely needs to apologise [because] you can hear him say ‘work sucks’.”
Yeah I was in the section next to him. He said work sucks because she mentioned something about working. It was all very awkward
— Nikita Shah (@nikitajshah) June 2, 2024
Adele was subsequently praised by LGBTQ+ activists online for defending Pride Month, despite the run-in now appearing to have been a mix-up.
The US’ largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organisation, Human Rights Campaign, tweeted: “Want to know how to challenge bullies and hate this Pride Month? Take a page from the icon that is @Adele.”
Actor and comedian John Leguizamo said: “Tell them Adele! You go girl!” In an update that has since been ‘liked’ almost 10,000 times, writer, producer and commentator Jason Reid posted the clip with the caption: “This is what an LGBTQ+ ally looks like.”
This August, Adele will play 10 outdoor shows in Munich, Germany as part of a special residency at a bespoke 80,000-capacity venue.
The singer is set to resume her Las Vegas residency this weekend (June 7, 8) and next (14, 15) before returning to Sin City to play a run of rescheduled dates between October and November.
In other news, Adele recently hailed Sabrina Carpenter’s mega-hit ‘Espresso’ as “my jam” – with the latter responding to the high praise on social media.
10300