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Joe Lycett, Sir Rod Stewart, Alex Scott and Harry Styles are among the stars nominated for this year’s British LGBT Awards.

Lycett made headlines ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, in November, when he publicly urged David Beckham to pull out of a reported £10m deal with the host nation – threatening to destroy £10,000 of his own money should the football star fail to do so.

Stewart also spoke out against Qatar’s human rights record in an interview with The Sunday Times, agreeing it “would have been good” to play his song The Killing of Georgie, about the murder of a gay man in the 1970s, at the opening ceremony as a protest. “I was actually offered a lot of money, over $1 million, to play there 15 months ago,” he continued. “I turned it down… It’s not right to go.”

Rod Stewart performs at the Raise the Roof fundraiser for Prostate Cancer UK in June

Other stars shortlisted for the awards include Sue Perkins, Lizzo, Alison Hammond, Emma Watson, Rebel Wilson, Michelle Visage, Luke Evans and Graham Norton.

The British LGBT Awards honour leading LGBT+ activists, allies and celebrities who have worked to advance the rights of LGBT+ people during the past 12 months.

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Harry Styles has cleaned up at the Brit Awards, winning all four prizes he was nominated for – and paying tribute to female stars as he collected the trophy for best artist

Announcing the awards, British LGBT Awards founder Sarah Garrett said: “It is more important than ever that we shine a light on those who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the LGBT+ community, during what has been another very challenging 12 months for the community.

“The nominees, which include an exciting mix of famous LGBT+ faces, allies and organisations, have all demonstrated a commitment to advancing LGBT+ rights.”

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Who’s up for what?

Harry Styles performing during the Brit Awards 2023 at the O2 Arena, London. Picture date: Saturday February 11, 2023.

This year’s LGBT Awards ceremony takes place on 23 June.

Lycett is nominated for the media moment of the year award for his money-shredding stunt, after which he revealed the cash was fake – with the real amount donated to charity.

World Cup pundit Scott wearing the One Love armband tribute in Qatar is also shortlisted for the award, along with moments including Jack Rooke’s comedy series Big Boys, and Ncuti Gatwah and Yasmin Finney starring in Doctor Who. Last year, the prize was won by Johannes Radebe and John Whaite for their same-sex Strictly Come Dancing partnership in 2021.

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Sir Rod is shortlisted in the celebrity ally category, along with Hammond, Watson, Styles, Visage, Pink, Katherine Ryan, Jenna Ortega, Patrick Stewart and Simone Ashley.

Billy Porter, Emma Corrin, Rebel Wilson and Luke Evans are among the stars shortlisted for the LGBT+ celebrity award, while Anne-Marie, Becky Hill, Lizzo and Maneskin are included in the music prize category.

Other previous British LGBT Award winners include Sir Elton John, Edward Enninful, Hillary Clinton, Kylie Minogue, Little Mix, Munroe Bergdorf and Demi Lovato.

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Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

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Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

A Strictly Come Dancing star has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

The unnamed man, who is in his 30s, was also detained over a separate allegation of “non-consensual intimate image abuse”.

The Met Police said an arrest was made in east London on Friday in a joint investigation with Hertfordshire Constabulary, following a “third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences”.

It is understood the arrest is not related to the upcoming production of Strictly Come Dancing – the 23rd series, which is in the rehearsal stage and is due to launch in September.

“On Friday 22 August, officers arrested a man in his 30s in east London on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse,” a spokesperson for the Met said in a statement.

The investigation is in its early stages and inquiries are ongoing, the spokesperson added.

The man was released on bail on Saturday until a date in November, the force said, according to BBC News.

Hertfordshire Constabulary did not add anything further.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.”

Earlier this month, it was reported the broadcaster had called in lawyers to investigate following claims two of its stars had used cocaine.

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Taylor Swift announces engagement to boyfriend Travis Kelce

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Taylor Swift announces engagement to boyfriend Travis Kelce

Taylor Swift has announced she is getting married to her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce.

The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

The announcement was liked more than 1.7 million times just over 30 minutes after it was posted.

Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift
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Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift

Swift and Kelce started their relationship in July 2023, after the three-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast New Heights that he tried and failed to meet the singer at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City.

Rumours grew that the couple were dating after Swift was spotted at a number of Chiefs games. On her seventh time in the stands, she brought her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, along.

Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in November 2023: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming [to the Eras Tour]?’

I had somebody playing Cupid… She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”

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From January: Taylor cheers on Travis after Chiefs win

Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, and announced her 12th album, titled The Life Of A Showgirl.

Speaking to her now-fiance and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift said it was inspired by the Eras Tour – and also talked about Travis’s attempt at meeting her two years ago.

While she said his plan to give her his number on a friendship bracelet was a “wild, romantic gesture,” she joked he “didn’t do any proper logistical planning” and thought he would be allowed backstage.

“Because he knows the elevator lady, he thought he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room,” she added. “That’s how it works in 1973.”

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The new album, which will be released on 3 October, marks her first release since she took back control over her entire back catalogue from private equity firm Shamrock Capital.

Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.

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Despite rumours he would retire after losing this year’s Super Bowl, Kelce will play for the Kansas City Chiefs again this season.

He told GQ magazine his on-field performances “slipped a little bit” as he started acting, and added: “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”

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Boy, 16, convicted in Germany over supporting failed terror plot at Taylor Swift concert

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Boy, 16, convicted in Germany over supporting failed terror plot at Taylor Swift concert

A 16-year-old has been convicted in Germany for supporting a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Austria last year.

The teenager, named Mohammad A, who cannot be fully identified under Germany’s privacy laws, was convicted of preparing a serious act of violence and supporting a terrorist act of violence abroad.

He was handed a suspended 18-month sentence on Tuesday. According to the court, he made a “comprehensive confession” at his trial, which was held behind closed doors because of his age.

German judges found that the defendant, a Syrian national then aged 14, supported the ideology of the Islamic State group at the time.

The court heard he was also in contact via social media with a young man in Austria who planned to attack a Swift concert in Vienna, had sent him a video with bomb-building instructions, and organised contact with an IS member.

All three of Swift’s concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were cancelled in August last year after a terror plot was uncovered by authorities.

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Swiftie on cancelled Vienna show

Concert organisers had expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside.

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Authorities said the main suspect, now 20, planned to target those outside of the stadium and hoped to “kill as many people as possible”.

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the directorate of state security and intelligence, added at the time that the suspect was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels”.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Headphone dodgers’ targeted by new TfL campaign
Impact of new online safety rules revealed
Two victims of Isle of Wight helicopter crash named

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Swift later called the decision to cancel her shows in Austria “devastating,” and said: “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.

“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”

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