Anti-trans activist Graham Linehan performs ‘cancelled’ comedy show on street to tiny crowd
Graham Linehand performs to a small crowd outside Holyrood, Edinburgh. (Credit: Twitter)
Former comedy writer Graham Linehan performed a comedy show outside of Holyrood in Edinburgh to tiny crowd after being axed from performing at an Edinburgh venue over his continued anti-trans campaigning.
After receiving complaints from the public, community hub Leith Arches announced that it had axed Linehan’s appearance as a guest at a Thursday (17 August) comedy show hosted by GB News’ Andrew Doyle.
When a second venue also axed the Doyle and Linehan show, the gig organisers, Comedy Unleashed, put on the show in the street where Linehan performed on a makeshift stage to a crowd of about 50 people.
A video of his street performance posted on X, formerly called Twitter, shows him talking about his favourite topic: “Women being harassed and threatened.”
Comments under the clip questioned “I thought comedy is supposed to be funny?” while another asked “where’s the actual comedy?”.
Others pointed out Linehan’s hateful history against the trans community, including creating a fake profile pretending to be a trans woman on dating app, Her, to humiliate and shame other users.
“Comedy is my first love, it’s the thing I love to do, but I have not been allowed to do that for five years,” he told the small crowd, according to the BBC, which also reported that he did so with tears in his eyes.
In an interview with MailOnline, Linehan said that trans rights activists “need to be defeated completely” after the backlash he has faced, and referred to trans activists as “evil”.
“I want to to make it clear, I’m not talking about trans people, I’m talking about trans rights activists,” he added.
“Two very distinct groups that often have nothing to do with each other. I just think they need to be defeated completely.”
Linehan has previously stated that “every central trans figure is a n**ce” and referred to trans people as a “paedophillic movement”.
“It is important to make a stand. It is important to at least stand in front of a microphone, even if it’s just for a second, and show that these people don’t get to push the rest of us around,” he told BBC Scotland News.
Linehan has threatened to take legal action against Leith Arches if it refuses to reverse its decision and apologise.
MP Joanna Cherry has come to Linehan’s defence, claiming his removal from the bill was a case of “belief discrimination”.
On Wednesday (16 August), Linehan appeared on TalkTV to debate “hate speech or free speech?” where he shared his anti-trans views.
“The most important view I have is that it is a crime against humanity to tell children they may have been born in the wrong body,” he said.
Linehan described offering support to trans youth as “a crime against humanity” during in the interview, which the channel decided not to broadcast for a second time.
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