The saying goes: You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.

That’s the lesson that a homophobic driver learned recently after he decided to hurl abuse at Nick Hurley, 27.

He shouted ‘f*****’ at him from his car on Whitworth Street in Manchester city centre on Friday.

Nick Hurley got glittery revenge on a man who was homophobic towards him (Picture: MEN)

Nick was carrying bags of biodegradable glitter ahead of Brighton Pride so when the car stopped at traffic lights he knew what to do.


He emptied a tube of glitter into the car through the passenger window to the shock of the two men inside who then sped off.

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He said: ‘In a moment of creative frenzy I realised I had a bag full of glitter. I opened one tube and reached inside the window.



‘I thought “this might be a bad thing to do” and launched the tube of glitter in the passenger window.

‘The traffic lights changed and the guys in the car looked flummoxed, as if to say “did that really happen?”.

He threw glitter at them after one of them called him a faggot (Picture: Twitter/nickhurley)

‘I have had death threats, a glass bottle thrown at me, a brick thrown at my house, all of these things have happened in Manchester.

‘I have been thrown off my bike while cycling to work. This isn’t the most horrific crime that has happened to me, but I wanted to raise awareness – in a funny way.’

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He tweeted about the incident saying: ‘If you think it’s okay to shout ‘f*****’ at me out of your car window while you drive past, then I think it’s okay for me to empty a tube of glitter through that window when you stop at the traffic lights.

‘Your casual homophobia has super-gay consequences.’

Thousands of people have praised Nick for his actions and his method of ‘glitter activism’.

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One person said a friend takes glitter to nightclubs to throw over people who try to grope them.

Nick has used the opportunity to raise money for LGBT charity Stonewall.

‘I wanted to raise attention to it in a funny way,’ he added.

‘Out of that terrible thing that happened something nice and positive has come out of it. People have been sharing screenshots of donations.’