Carl Cannon asked Graham Linehan at RCP’s third annual Samizdat Prize gala this week about the culture of comedy and free speech. You can read more about the prize and Linehan’s contributions to free speech here: “Why RealClear Is Honoring Graham Linehan”

GRAHAM LINEHAN: I was a pretty successful comedy writer in the UK. I had a few shows that did quite well – won BAFTAs and even won an Emmy – so things were going great. Until about 10 years ago, when I started noticing that women were getting into trouble in various ways – losing their livelihoods, sometimes even being put in prison – for annoying what had become a new sacred class: trans-identified men. These men, for years, have been held up as not just women, but the best kind of women – a superior form of women, in fact. From the moment I heard it, I realized it was nonsense. I couldn’t believe that when people said trans women are women, they meant it literally. And they did mean it literally – and people were being arrested for saying it wasn’t true. I immediately lost all my work. A musical I had been writing for three years, based on one of my shows, was canceled even though it was ready to go. Over the course of 10 years, my reputation was slowly destroyed. My Wikipedia entry – moderators just put in whatever they want about me. We tried to change it. We can’t get it changed. The way I put it is that I’m the victim of village gossip – but on a global scale. And it was only through being arrested that I came to the attention of conservatives. In that sense, it was a good career move. TOM BEVAN: For people in the audience who don’t know that story – because I didn’t know who you were, and then one day you just exploded into our consciousness on X because of the arrest – can you tell that story? GRAHAM LINEHAN: I was coming back to the UK because a different trans activist had reported me to the police on another issue. I was returning to stand trial. When the plane landed, they told everyone to stay seated. As soon as I heard that, I thought, I’m going to be arrested. And sure enough, a voice came over saying, Could Graham Linehan please present himself? I went to the front, and there were five police officers – all with guns, which is unusual for the UK, though perhaps not for Heathrow. I didn’t know that at the time. I thought they must believe someone from ISIS was on the plane. But no – it was me. I had said that if a man enters a female-only space, he’s committing an abusive act. I said, Make a scene, call the police, and if all else fails, punch him in the balls. It was a joke about the height differential between men and women – obviously an exaggeration. But it was basic safeguarding advice I would give to my daughter. Any man who wants to enter a female-only space – whether it’s a sports team or a changing room – is exactly the kind of man who should be kept out. What this exaltation of these men has done is create a situation where, when they encounter reality – when someone doesn’t affirm their self-conception – they become extremely angry. We saw the result in Canada just days ago. CARL CANNON: Nine dead, twenty-five injured. GRAHAM LINEHAN: Yes. In Ireland, if you did not use X, you would think the killer was a woman, because RTE reported that he was a woman. The Irish Independent went a step further and said it was a female. It’s not just the word woman they want – they want the word female. Too many media outlets are happy to go along with what I see as a false narrative and effectively gaslight their audience.

RealClearPolitics Videos