Music

Charli XCX gives emotional speech to fans while draped in Princess Diana trans Pride flag

A still of Charli XCX wrapping a trans Pride flag over herself and a photo of a trans Pride flag with Princess Diana printed on it being held by a fan

Charli XCX threw on a Princess Diana trans Pride flag at a recent gig. (Screen captures via Twitter)

Queen of the gays Charli XCX gave a touching speech to fans during a gig – all while wrapped in a trans Pride flag emblazoned with Princess Diana’s face.

The British singer, 29, played to thousands of screaming fans in north London’s Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening (19 May).

And because it’s Charli XCX – who has signed her fan’s douches and oestrogen – she ended up giving the screaming gays more than they could ask for by wearing a trans Pride flag like a cape.

Some fans said that Charli XCX didn’t realise what was printed on the flag at first and asked: “Oh what’s this… poppers?”

She knows her fandom well. After all, she once signed a bottle of Rush-branded bottle of poppers and yelled, like the incomparable ally that she is: “Gay rights!”

She also took a minute to thank her fans and collaborators for their years-long support.

“You guys, who have just really supported me when no one else believed in me,” she said while tearing up, fan footage showed.

“I was already sweating a lot and now I’m crying so I look like a crazy b***h.”

Charli XCX dedicated her concert to all the “incredible people” in her life who have “inspired me so much”.

“[Caroline Polachek], [AG Cook], Sophie,” she said. “And all the incredible collaborators I get to work with – [Rina Sawayama]. So many f**king people.”

The holy trinity of Charli XCX, Princess Diana and trans rights whipped LGBTQ+ Twitter into a frenzy as they all but pledged allegiance to the flag.

https://twitter.com/Chixie5/status/1527643875518689287

Charli XCX delivered her Queen’s Speech not longer after fan Danielle Bisset, 20, saw her trans Pride flag be passed to the singer.

“The glow up from my living room 12 hours ago,” tweeted Bisset, a London-based poet and actor.

As a trans woman, Bisset said she had a “full-body reaction” to seeing her icon wear her flag. “Tears, shaking, screaming, the lot,” she told PinkNews.

Bisset made the flag through a custom flag-maker on Amazon. “Graphic design is not my passion,” she said, “so I just made the flag on Microsoft Paint and popped Ar Di [sic] on top of it.”

“While it’s funny to laugh at the fact the flag had Ar Di [sic] on it, it’s important to remember that being in close proximity to transness is still something that many cis people either refuse to do or do in secret,” Bisset added.

Capturing this, Bisset, who is raising money for her gender-affirming surgeries, said she heard a cis gay man “whispering” about the way she was presenting after pushing his way through the crowd. He later poured his beer over her because she accidentally spilt water on him.

Amid the trans joy of the gig, the man’s judgement was a sobering reminder of the bigotry trans people in Britain face, Bisset said.

“The time is now to get up and support trans people,” Bisset said. “Celebrities and those in the public eye – especially in the UK – are so afraid of supporting my community.

“For Charli to so unabashedly pick up that flag and wrap herself in it in front of thousands of people is so important.”

The “Boom Clap” singer, real name Charlotte Aitchison, started off her career by uploading music to MySpace.

Things have changed a lot since then. She’s dropped six studio albums and worked with everyone from Lizzo to Blondie. Charli XCX even dedicated her album Crash to Sophie, the trans Scottish super producer.

To Bisset, Charli XCX’s artistry resonates with the trans community “because of the kind of stories her music tells”.

“The sonic worlds she makes are just out of this world and they are worlds that people from across the LGBTQ+ community dream of escaping to,” they said.

“A world filled with taxis and hot pink and strobe lights and love.”

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