Róisín Murphy says ‘being cancelled is hard’ after puberty blocker comments backlash
Róisín Murphy (Getty Images)
Irish singer, songwriter, and producer Róisín Murphy has opened up about the fallout from her controversial comments on puberty blockers, saying the backlash left her feeling professionally and personally isolated.
Speaking at a Westminster event on Monday (27 April), she described how quickly opportunities disappeared after her 2023 remarks, claiming venues dropped bookings, collaborators distanced themselves, and pressure mounted for her to apologise.
“Being cancelled is hard,” she said. “The world goes very dark very quickly. Everyone and anyone who is ever going to disappoint you does so all at once. Networks of interwoven friendship and career that took years to grow collapse overnight. All the hypocrisy, frailty and hidden disloyalty gets exposed at once. It’s bewildering and it’s a bitter pill,” Murphy continued, as reported by The Times.
Murphy argued that artists who speak on “radioactive issues” are often met with condemnation rather than debate, and criticised what she described as online “social media enforcers” shaping public reactions.
Murphy first sparked backlash after criticising the use of puberty blockers for young people in a 2023 Facebook post. “Puberty blockers are f*****, absolutely desolate, Big Pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true,” she wrote.
Last October, Murphy reignited the controversy by sharing a chart showcasing data from Tufts University’s Cooperative Election Study, which portrayed a decline of young people identifying as non-binary or trans.
“It was never real. Terribly sad though. Absolute havoc wreaked on children, families, and society,” Murphy wrote under the screenshot on her X account. The statistics from Tufts that she shared have been disputed for their scope and accuracy.
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