Belgian deejay Hannelore Hooyberghs, better known as DJ Dr. T, says she received a death threat after announcing that she will perform at Love Out Loud Turnhout, the first Pride event in the Kempen region.
Hooyberghs announced on social media last Sunday that she would perform at the event, which will take place in Turnhout on 5 September 2026. While the announcement received many positive reactions, one person responded with the threatening message, “Bring a weapon”.
The DJ subsequently shared the incident on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday 18 August, explaining that the threat had made her reconsider what Pride and safety mean to her.
From Berlin to Turnhout
Hooyberghs, who is from the Kempen region, was among the DJs performing at Berlin Pride. The event was followed by a serious incident in which a car was driven into several visitors. One woman was killed and dozens of people were injured.
Following CSD Berlin, Hooyberghs also performed at the most recent Antwerp Pride. She will now return to her home region to perform at Turnhout’s first Pride on 5 September.
It was that announcement that prompted the threatening response.
‘Can I still say that if I’m not sure I’m safe?’
“Recently I bought a pin with the words ‘You are safe with me’,” Hooyberghs wrote. “I wanted to wear it at Pride, because that is what Pride means to me. After Berlin, and after someone commented ‘Bring a weapon’ under a video about my performance at Turnhout Pride, I started thinking about that pin: ‘You are safe with me’. Can I still say that if I’m not even sure that I’m safe myself?”
But rather than abandoning the message, Hooyberghs said the experience had given the words a different meaning.
“Maybe ‘You are safe with me’ doesn’t mean that I can promise that nothing bad will ever happen,” she wrote. “Maybe it means that I will stand beside you when it matters, and that no threat will change that.”
‘I will keep showing up’
Hooyberghs said she would not allow the threat to make her disappear from Pride events.
“I will not disappear. I will keep showing up, playing and dancing,” she wrote. “I will keep making space for others and I will keep wearing that pin.”
For the DJ, that determination is at the heart of what Pride should represent.
“Because that is how Pride should feel to me: a place where you can be yourself,” she wrote. “You don’t have to be like me, love like me or think like me. You simply have to give other people the space to be themselves.”
The latest on LGBTQIA+ events such as prides in Belgium
- CHARLEROI PRIDE 2026 | Les Fiertés Carolos return to Charleroi on 29 August amid Pride calendar clash.
- “Second week of August”: Antwerp Pride 2027 dates to be determined: 2 to 8 or 9 to 15 August.
- Brussels Pride 2026 on Saturday 16 May, will celebrate 30 years of Pride: how rainbow historiography deletes two decades.
- Leuven Pride to return on 26 September 2026 with focus on safety after revelations of suspected 2024 attack.
- Liège Pride 2026 from 28 to 30 August.
- BELGIUM | First Mechelen Canal Pride on Saturday 25 July.
- Limburg Pride 2027 on Sunday 4 July.
- TURNHOUT | New LGBTQIA+ Pride festival Love Out Loud on Saturday 5 September 2026.
- PROGRAMME | 2026 Antwerp Queer Arts Festival from Friday 19 June to Sunday 16 August.
- PRIDES IN BELGIUM 2026 | Bruges Pride (12-14 June), Mons Pride (13 June), Reclaim Our Pride (Antwerp, 27 June), Tournai Pride (27 June), Limburg Pride (Hasselt, 12 July), Antwerp Pride (5-9 August), Liège Pride (29-30 August), Leuven Pride (27 September).
- SATURDAY 8 AUGUST 2026 | Pride Express links Utrecht – Amsterdam – Rotterdam Antwerp – Rotterdam Amsterdam – Utrecht for Antwerp Pride 2026.
- Namur Pride on Saturday 30 May 2026.
- BELGIUM | 216,000 celebrate 30 years of Brussels Pride.
- From the Stonewall Inn Riots to Brussels and Antwerp Pride: how much did the New York riots really influence queer activism in Belgium and the Netherlands?.
- BELGIUM | Beyond Darklands 2027 ‘The Ember Dunes’ from Tuesday 16 to Monday 22 February in Antwerp.
- Rainbow Festival Oostende 2026 on Friday 8, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May.
- Pride Express links Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp to WorldPride Amsterdam on 1 and 2 August 2026.
- Queer March Ghent returns in March 2026.
- BRUGES | Prisma Queer Arts Festival on 16, 17 and 18 January 2026.
- HAPPY NEW QUEER 2026 | Bruges on 17 January and Leuven on 23 January.
- PROGRAMME | Pinx 2026 LGBTQIA+ film festival in Ghent and Antwerp from 27 January to 1 February.
- EuroGames 2028 in Frankfurt: will Antwerp aim for 2029 or 2030?.
- Pride Museum pop-up draws 4,000 visitors and strengthens case for permanent queer space in Brussels.
- Mechelen to organise a Pride Week from 2026?.
- Belgium to host Eurovision Song Contest 2026? But in which city?.
- ANTWERP 2025-2030 | City government agreement supports bid for EuroGames in Antwerp in 2028.
