Leona Jorgensen: The Voice singer accosted while busking in Sheffield and told she's going to hell

A Sheffield singer who starred on The Voice has described the alarming moment she was accosted while busking and told she was ‘going to hell’.

Leona Jorgensen, who made the semi-finals of the ITV reality show in 2021, was busking outside the Moor Market when she was approached by a woman last week.

“I was meant to be catching good vibes but she just walked over to me and I think we must have had a conversation before because she asked ‘have you turned to God yet?’,” Leona told The Star.

The woman proceeded to tell her that she was a sinner because she is a lesbian and that she would be ‘going to hell’.

The shocking encounter was captured on video and shared by Leona via Instagram, where she wrote: “I find it quite unbelievable that this woman was purely judging my whole character and life based on my sexuality and not the person I am… not that I am perfect but I’m forever pushing to be the best version of myself I can be.” Speaking to The Star afterwards, she said: “I can take this light-heartedly but if she’d approached someone else who wasn’t used to those interactions that could have hit them really hard mentally.”

Near-death experience while busking

It wasn’t the strangest or most disturbing thing to have happened to her while busking, Leona explained.

“I’ve had all sorts of interactions with people while busking, whether it’s people who are drunk, or have really bad mental health and are acting a bit off key,” said the singer, who has a new single out and an album on the way.

“I’ve had people come up to me crying, people stealing from me and people trying to fight me. I’ve got used to knowing how to handle people.

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“The scariest moment happened when I was busking in Nottingham and these guys were fighting. One of them, whom I knew, smashed a glass bottle and was going to stab the other guy.

“I thought ‘I need to intervene’, so I told him ‘bro, what are you doing? Pass me the bottle’, and he did.

“It was only afterwards that I thought ‘that could have ended terribly’.

“I love busking and getting to meet new people from all cultures and walks of life, and hear their stories. I normally get a great response. Only one near-death experience in 10 years of busking is pretty good.”

You can follow Leona on Instagram.