A SLEW of homophobic social media comments has forced the council to block all responses on a post about Malvern Pride.

Malvern District Council is taking a zero-tolerance approach after receiving a large number of homophobic comments on its post about Saturday's event (July 27).

The comments were on a post about stealing a crocheted cape from the Elgar statue on Belle Vue Island in Great Malvern.

Malvern Gazette has also been forced to stop comments after homophobic messages were posted on its Facebook post about the theft.

Malvern Gazette has also taken action to remove further commenting privileges on its Malvern Pride stories to avoid more homophobic comments from being shared. 

A spokesperson for Malvern District Council said: "Due to the nature of the comments received on a post, we have now blocked all responses.

"We do not tolerate offensive and discriminatory language."

Malvern Pride will be taking place in Priory Park this Saturday (July 27). 

To mark the event, a crocheted cape and glasses were made using the Pride flag colours and were placed on the Elgar statue.

It had taken Sue Spencer around 30 hours to make.

She said: "Yarnbomb Great Malvern has been supporting events in Malvern for over ten years now and wholeheartedly welcomed Malvern Pride into their calendar of events. 

"We are hoping that someone will strut proudly into Priory Park on July 27 wearing the cape and glasses, but would prefer if they were returned before then to be seen on Elgar as part of the Pride decorations that festoon the town."

Malvern District Council has appealed to find the cape in time for Malvern Pride.

A spokesperson said: "We are disappointed to hear that a crocheted cape has been removed from the Elgar statue on Belle Vue Island in Great Malvern.

"We gave full permission for Elgar to be decorated with the cape to promote the upcoming Pride Festival in Priory Park.

"If you have any information about this, please let us know. The Pride Festival will be held on July 27 from 12pm to 6pm."