The Proclaimers defend Graham Linehan’s trans views: ‘Tragedy he lost his career over it’
The Proclaimers defended Graham Linehan (Getty Images)
The Proclaimers have waded into the trans rights debate, defending Graham Linehan as they promote their new album, You May Offend.
The Scottish duo – formed of twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid and known best for their song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” – explained their unhappiness with the Scottish National Party (SNP), with Craig saying “leadership have done real damage to the cause” with the 2022 Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland).
He claimed the bill, which made it easier for trans people in Scotland to legally change their gender, had “led to violent men, including convicted rapists, being sent to women’s prison”, branding it “unforgivable”.
Craig – who said he’s “not transphobic” – said “people have lost their careers” over saying “a woman is an adult human female”.
“They are shouted down by 0.5 per cent in a population who are male and who think that because they put on a dress, and they put on makeup, that that makes them a female,” he told The Telegraph.
‘I respect reality and scientific fact, not myth’
Name-checking Graham Linehan, Charlie went on: “None of his pals stood up for him. I wouldn’t agree with everything Linehan says any more than I would do with JK Rowling, but you’ve got the right to stand up for science and logic.
“And in his case, it’s a tragedy. He lost his career for telling the truth.”
Charlie went on to speak of the original Harry Potter trio, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson – or, as he described them, “those f****** bairns who Rowling made massive fortunes [for]”.
He said: “It was not necessary that each of them stood up and agreed with her. But you would have thought someone would stand up and say, ‘We live in a free country … I do not necessarily support it. But I support her right to say something.'”
The brothers said they wrote their new album because “people are getting scared to say what they think because people are being cancelled”.
Craig added: “I’m not transphobic. I’m not against a man identifying as a woman, dressing as a woman. I’m not against any of that. All I’m against is saying that he actually is a woman when he’s not a woman.
“A lot of these folk are basically truth-phobic. They’ll deny the biological reality. Then if you insist on it, they’ll say that you are hurting their feelings. That you’re disrespecting them. But I respect reality and scientific fact, not myth.”
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