Dear Londoners — The Londoner office is in a sunny mood this morning, having collectively decided to try a new tactic of not approaching Monday mornings with dread to see if that makes a difference to the day’s bearability. Even Peter’s 8.30am sighting of Liz Truss couldn’t dim spirits (note from Peter: I’m 98% sure it was Big Liz. Maybe 89%).
It’s a packed briefing this AM; a woman has been arrested for attempted murder after running over someone outside a glitzy club favoured by influencers; Uber drivers are in revolt against their employer and a south London pub landlord has opted for the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach in the ongoing battle between publicans and property developers.
First though, we’ve got an update on our exclusive story last week about the ousted London Pride boss — Christopher Joell-Deshields – who appeared to be launching an almost completely AI-generated rival event which has been accused of being a ‘scam’. A Capital Pride donor got in touch after our report published with some compelling new intel, confirming the links between Joell-Deshields and the bizarre venture. Read on for more…
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No Pride in denials
Last week, The Londoner revealed that a bizarre new AI-generated Pride event — one which hides its ownership and pesters people for donations — appeared to be run by Christopher Joell-Deshields, the embattled former boss of Pride in London. Joell-Deshields has since maintained that he is not behind Capital Pride London, even as the daily requests for donations have kept coming.
Despite his protests, The Londoner has now seen conclusive evidence that Joell-Deshields is behind the account. On 15 September 2025, he applied for a license for Capital Pride London to hold an event called Pride in the Park, in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Remarkably, he applied to host the rival event on the same day as the official London Pride — the organisation he was still being paid £87,500 a year to co-ordinate, and had only been suspended from a couple of weeks before. Alas, the application was rejected. Someone who donated to Capital Pride London also got in touch, and shared the phone number which flashed up on their mobile banking app when they made the payment. The number was Joell-Deshields’.
If he really supports the work of Capital Pride London, as Joell-Deshields told us last week, he should stop pretending not to be involved. In fact, perhaps he should take the advice of a certain AI-generated music video he produced last month, and say his name with pride.
Attempted murder in Mayfair
Soho’s partygoers are no stranger to chaotic scenes, but even the most hardened of night rats were shocked by the events that unfolded in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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