Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been arrested at Heathrow on
suspicion of inciting violence over a series of gender-critical posts on the X
social media platform.
Describing his dramatic arrest on his blog, Linehan wrote: “The moment I
stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not
one, not two—five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under
arrest for three tweets.”
“I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal,
taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from
speaking online—all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic
crossdressers.
“To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country
that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too
accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have
turned the police into their personal goon squad.”
One of Linehan’s posts on X from April 20 said: “If a trans-identified male is
in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a
scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
A second tweet, on April 19, was a picture of a trans rally with the caption: “A
photo you can smell.”
The third was a follow up to this tweet which said: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. ******* em.”
He was released on bail and part of the bail conditions was he could not use X
