Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph:
Every time I think we have reached peak lunacy around the issue of “trans rights”, I am once more shocked. The news that five armed police officers were waiting at Heathrow to meet and arrest the creator of Father Ted because of three tweets has blown my mind.
Yep. It's astonishing and it's chilling.
Armed police are usually reserved for suspects who may be dangerous, not for people who tweet controversial stuff. Linehan, 57, is well known for his views on trans issues and has long been of the view that trans rights have come about to the detriment of women and children. He takes no prisoners and is often rude about predatory men, and makes derogatory comments about transwomen (biological men) who masquerade as lesbian women on dating apps.
He has paid a heavy price for his views, which is why he now lives in the States. The comedy world dumped him. His marriage broke up. This once-fêted writer of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books became persona non grata within the industry. Few stood by him, as it is compulsory in the word of the arts and media to mouth the dogmas.
“Trans women are women. Trans men are men, and non-binary is valid.” To veer from the catechism is to risk being ostracised, to have one’s livelihood take away, to become a pariah. This is what happened to him.
All of this has perhaps pushed Linehan to be extremely angry and not to hold back.
As Linehan clearly sees some trans activists as the entitled, aggressive men that they are, he refuses to compromise and returns their threats. His “punch in the balls” tweet (his joking recommendation ‘if all else fails’ should a woman find a trans-identified male is in a female-only space) is part of that. Remember we live in a culture where it appears to be OK to carry signs that say “Decapitate Terfs” amongst other threats that explicitly call for violence against women.
The police do absolutely nothing about the tsunami of explicitly violent tweets from trans activists, up to and including death threats, yet storm in with five armed officers when it's suggested that trans-identified men in women's spaces should, if all else fails, be punched in the balls. There's something rotten here. Too many Stonewall seminars? – or high-up trans activists in the force? Or, most likely, just stupid and unaware, with a deeply ingrained misogyny.
This is frankly Orwellian. He has been arrested for wrongthink. The police have outdone themselves. Either we have freedom of speech or we don’t, and freedom of speech means freedom to offend. It also means defending those you may disagree with.
There is no serious justification for this arrest.
It is an alarming authoritarian move which furthers no one rights.
I stand with Graham Linehan.
Added:
The police are only interested in tweets threatening or inciting violence against women if the ‘women’ in question have dicks. https://t.co/X4BJvYYzmj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 2, 2025
…and he gets the full ISIS treatment.’
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