Free Speech, Media

BBC Cancels Event of Singer Who Criticized Puberty-Blocking Drugs

The Telegraph is reporting that the BBC has removed Irish singer Róisín Murphy from a prepared feature radio broadcast. The reason is a comment opposing puberty-blocking drugs. While I understand why such criticism is deeply hurtful to some, it is also political speech. Artists should be able to hold opposing views. I would feel the same way if BBC blocked an artist for supporting puberty-blocking drugs. However, these controversies evidence an orthodoxy that seems to only run against those on one side in this and other issues.

Murphy’s comment on social media was reportedly leaked by a friend last month. In the posting, she wrote “Puberty blockers are f—ing, 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 added: “Please don’t call me a TERF, please don’t keep using that word against women.”

We have seen cancel campaigns launched against figures like J.K. Rowling as TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) for criticizing transgender policies.

The same inexorable pattern emerged for Murphy. They have targeted her new album for boycotts simply because they disagree on the issue. The Guardian declared that the album was now “compromised” and “for many fans, particularly queer fans, this album is DOA [dead on arrival].”

BBC insists that the cancellation was due to other factors, but many have their doubts.  What is clear is that a full boycott campaign is now being launched despite Murphy offering a full-throated apology for uttering opposing views:

“I have been thrown into a very public discourse in an arena I’m uncomfortable in and deeply unsuitable for. I cannot apologise enough for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social-media fire and brimstone. To witness the ramifications of my actions and the divisions it has caused is heartbreaking.

I will now completely bow out of this conversation within the public domain. I’m not in the slightest bit interested in turning it into ANY kind of ‘campaign’, because campaigning is not what I do… My true calling is music and music will never exclude any of us.”

What is alarming is that artists must now repeat approved positions on political and social issues or, as here, pledge to remain silent in order to be artists.

The irony is crushing. The left was once the target of censorship and blacklisting during the Red Scare. Today, they have literally adopted the arguments used to target liberals and socialists.

So Murphy is the latest wretch to be hoisted by the left. The message is clear: support approved viewpoints or you will be blacklisted as an artist. Few on the left are voicing concerns over intolerance for opposing views and the denial of venues or publications for those artists who do not yield to the demands of the majority.

Despite her pleading apology, the cancel campaign has continued unabated. It appears that Murphy’s top song, Overpowered, aptly describes her artistic situation: “When I think that I’m over you, I’m overpowered.”

110 thoughts on “BBC Cancels Event of Singer Who Criticized Puberty-Blocking Drugs”

  1. Britain has been headed this way for some time now, they are learning the hard way why free speech is crucial. Let us not go any further down that slippery slope, we DO have a first amendment, and there are myriad good reasons it’s first. Unbelievable, and most of Europe seems to be following suit. Do not let the progressive machine convince you that you do not have any rights or that they can make exceptions for your rights, and do not let them convince you that you require ‘special’ rights – the gamut is already covered.

  2. It’s not political “speech.” It’s criticizing an accepted medical procedure. Don’t like the procedure? Don’t have it. It’s not a moral issue, it’s a medical issue.

    1. Ever watch “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”?

      That dealt with what was once “an accepted medical procedure” too– lobotomy.

      How did that turn out?

        1. Nice medal that makes my point. Is it still “an accepted medical practice”? Or has another procedure become the accepted practice?

          By the way, puberty blockers caused a lot of problems for Jazz Jennings and developmental problems have shown in treated kids in Sweden where, I think, ,puberty blockers or castrating children is no longer an “accepted medical practice” because of the harms observed.

        2. What happened to Egas Moniz?
          António Egas Moniz
          In 1939, Moniz was shot multiple times by a patient with schizophrenia.

          LOL – Absolutely fitting ! It was just some crazy person who knew exactly what they were doing. After all, he turned all the best friends into vegetables. Power, control, manageability. They did it for a reason, and those reasons weren’t medical improvements.

    2. You really think allowing 14 year olds who dont know their head from a hole in the ground to make major life altering decisions is just a medical issue?
      You just might be immoral.

      1. Don’t forget biden and the loons own all the chidren, they are THEIR CHILDREN, just like joey blooey said ! No such thing as someone else’s child !
        THEY WILL DETERMINE WHAT GETS CHOPPED OFF.

    3. It’s not “an accepted medical procedure”. It’s not a medical procedure at all. It’s not even a procedure of any sort.

  3. Professor Turley time and time again points to the differences in freedom of speech around the world. As an academician, I am sure these examples are useful in the courses he teaches to law students, but the value is less so to an American audience.

    Americans know that we have since our founding set the standard for freedom of speech. While that freedom seems to be eroding, I know of no migrant with restricted speech at home disparage the freedom of speech here. In America, we are exceptional in this regard. For those who take exception to our exceptionalism, I offer no apologies.

  4. Sorry. Normally I would jump right in and comment on [insert topic here], but the latest poultry catelog has just arrived and I’m too busy trying to decide between Grey Broilers and Red Bros, what with National Great American Pot Pie Day fast approaching (Sept. 23). Otherwise, I assure everyone that I’d publish some rather strong opinions on this subject. But the rest of you please carry on, and have a glorious Friday. Party like it’s 1998.
    https://www.myerspoultry.com/Product-Category-Meat-Birds

        1. The one thing that impressed me most, smart birds.
          The one roo we kept to tend to the ladies, he attacked a red fox that came into the yard. 8-9lbs bird with 3 inch spurs put a hurt on that fox. Never seen anything like that before!

          1. Having been attacked by geese in a suburban metro park east of Cleveland, and also attacked by seaguls on Drakes Island, Maine, when I wandered too close to where they were nesting, and also attacked by blue jays when I stumbled upon where they’d just kicked their babies out of the nest to force them to learn to fly (that was at the rented farmhouse where I began receiving chicken catalogs in 1984), I would NEVER underestimate the ferocity (nor flavorfulness) of a bird.

  5. Now you get it.

    Karl Marx called it the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Communism is global, for those of you in Rio Linda. It’s the very same communism and “dictatorship of the proletariat” that “Crazy Abe” destroyed the Constitution for in order to commence the incremental implementation of communism in America. Extremist ideologues Lincoln and Marx were “fellow travelers.” Lincoln’s successors and subsequent fellow-communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) have been working as hard as they can for the past 150 years to fully abrogate the rights, freedoms, privileges, and immunities of Americans per the Constitution and to impose the principles of communism:  Central planning, control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth, and social engineering, under Karl Marx’s famous motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” The entire American welfare state is antithetical, illicit, illegal, and unconstitutional. It is pure, unmitigated communism.

    1. Mr. George:

      Every time you publish something on this forum it is a screed against ol’ Abe. It’s becoming predictable, and you seem to blame Mr. Lincoln for anything happening in America 158 years later.

      Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln were significant figures of the 19th century, but they were not directly connected in terms of personal interactions or collaborations. They were contemporaries of the mid-19th century but that is pretty much it. Although there is no direct evidence of communication between Lincoln and Marx, some scholars have noted that Marx followed developments in the United States closely during this period, particularly the Civil War. Marx’s writings on capitalism, class struggle, and labor issues were influential during the 19th century and beyond.

      Marx and his writings were generally supportive of the Union cause during the American Civil War. He saw the conflict as a struggle against slavery, which he opposed, and as a potential catalyst for the advancement of workers’ rights. Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared the freedom of enslaved people in Confederate-held territory, was a significant development that aligned with Marx’s views on ending slavery.

      While there are some ideological overlaps between Marx’s ideas and Lincoln’s actions, it’s important to note that they had different backgrounds, roles, and focuses. Marx was a political theorist and economist advocating for a socialist revolution, while Lincoln was a political leader navigating the challenges of preserving the Union and addressing the issues of slavery and the Civil War.

      I know of no writings by Lincoln that demonstrate a belief that Marx’s ideas had any place in America.

      1. Thanks for reading…again!

        You really, really like it, don’t you?

        And it’s always challenging to deny the obvious; the cold hard truth?

        1. I was raised on the usual pablum about Lincoln.
          At some point I came across a lengthy highly educated high end run down on the crimes against the “Constitution” , the USA, that Lincoln engaged in. It was a very long list and certainly opened my eyes to realities that were not in any way shape or form shared by the endless praises and virtue signaling by the countless Lincoln promoters and spewers of anti-slavery propaganda.
          I also read the Confederate “Constitution” around that time and was given some pointers on it’s better spots.

          That was good for me. I was no longer a reflexive (kept fool) who knew nearly nothing.
          Information, lots of it, factual perspectives not talking points, break downs on in the ins and outs and surrounding issues, all very good for understanding and a better look at things.

  6. “I see your hair. It is a wig. Your Adam’s apple still looks big. You are a man, and that is clear. I do not see a woman here,” wrote ChatGPT at the outset of “Ma’am I Am,” before bringing human biology and transgender bathroom, or in this case spa, usage into the equation.

    “I must admit, it’s rather odd. To hear you say you’re now a broad. You have no uterus, so no: You cannot bleed from down below.”

    “I do not like your padded bra! You should not use the women’s spa! You tell me you had surgery; Your pronouns still are ‘him’ and ‘he.’ Your chromosomes are X and Y. That means you’ll always be a guy.”

    “You gave yourself a girly name. That does not mean you’re now a dame. A surgeon chopped your eggs and ham? I still won’t call you Ma’am I am.

    But if merely saying “I’m a girl” would put me in the same dressing, shower or bedroom withJennifer Connelly, where do I sign up?

    Maybe one of our morally superior s@@tlib friends could advise me on this. Please help.

    antonio

    1. Remember the chaos and harm caused by ‘recovered memories’ of child abuse?

      That’s been my go to analogy.

      Trans kids are just like the ‘recovered’ memory blip. a few more of these psychiatric boondogles, and we can move psychiatry, over to the catagory of mediums that talk to dead people.

      This is nothing but a social contagion.

      1. We used to be able to say peer pressure, but this new thing they do is a lot more than peer pressure.
        Your livelihood, your home, your family, your peace of mind, your bank account, your side incomes, your social circles, the club you may belong to, it’s all under risk now, as the lunatics implement their punishment of political opposition with the government and big tech’s huge helping hands.

        “Mass formation psychosis” is too kind and too misdirected a phrase to use. More like “Massive life altering non compliance pressures.” Something like that – much more descriptive and not put on the individual as a flaw – it is the power of the in control culture operators and their hands on manipulation of many aspects of a persons interactions to survive in society.
        Coercion, comply, or else.

    1. The FBI should have to reimburse those that are acquitted. These agencies can literally bankrupt people. Loser pays.

  9. The BBC has seemingly gone the way of NPR, constantly giving us left-wing propaganda. The lastest iteration in the Unforgotten series, now being shown on PBS, features an elderly Tory Lord who, along with his wife, is constantly berated by the criminals for opposing expanded welfare spending. They blame “cuts” in government spending for their failures in life.

  10. Transgenders are the new saints of the Woke religion. No one dare criticize them, everyone wants their child to be one, no expense must be spared in glorifying them.

    1. JDavel- “everyone wants their child to be one,”

      +++

      It does almost seem that a transgender child has become a ‘must have’ fashion accessory for some Hollywood stars.

  11. Let me save Dennis the trouble

    Jonathan: Here’s what you missed while you were worried about queers in England.
    Blah Blah Blah Trump Trump Trump

    Arent’t I brilliant?

    Dennis

  12. Dang. Big New fan of Irish singer Róisín Murphy .. . anybody that elegant needs to be saved.

    *’campaigning’ and human sexuality is like oil and water.

  13. SHOW SUPPORT!!!

    Download her music on Spotify and other streaming services. For most people, the service is free. Play her music even when not listening. Support all artists who are boycotted by listening or reading their work.

    Years ago, writers criticizing radical Islam were afraid to publish because they didn’t have the funds to hire attornies and fight. The organizations I supported raised money to hire lawyers so these authors would have free legal protection.

    It worked. Fight economic boycotts by the left, targeted to have the needed effect. They can’t boycott the individual.

    I listened to her music on Spotify. Presently, I am playing it on silent while it is charging. I will continue doing this until the left gets the point.

    This action amplifies our voices because more entertainers will use their voices because they will see the support out there.

        1. That is great, Verarians. I hope more follow your lead. It is a more effective way of preventing censorship of artists than posting on this blog.

      2. Fantastic! When I hear a lecture by a good conservative, I generally buy the book (when not given for free) and sometimes give it away as gifts, with or without signatures. There is no way I can read all the books I own bought in that fashion.

        After Rush Limbaugh died, in a tribute to him, Katherine, his wife, made sure every person had his book Radio’s Greatest of All Time.

        Because of poor eyes, I frequently have the same books in print, Audible, and Kindle versions.

        1. S. Meyer– “Because of poor eyes, I frequently have the same books in print, Audible, and Kindle versions.”
          +++
          Beginning to be my solution too.

  14. The Guardian declared that the album was now “compromised” and “for many fans, particularly queer fans, this album is DOA [dead on arrival].”

    Gays and lesbians like Andrew Sullivan, Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald and others have stated that the word “queer” is a pejorative. Hispanics have argued that the term “Latinx” is a pejorative. The Left could not care less what gays/lesbians and Hispanics say about these offensive labels. The Left will keep using these offensive labels anyway.

    Meanwhile Bud Light has become the butt of jokes, MBA Programs are now using the Bud Light fiasco as a teaching moment in their sales and marketing courses, and Target has lost credibility from their “tuck” garments for men who pretend they are women. The Left wont be satisfied until they threaten self-immolation. OTOH, they are quite good at setting themselves on fire aka the BLM Shuffle

    🤡

  15. This is what happens when you put a ring in the bulls nose. Shame on the majority for our silence.

  16. “such criticism is deeply hurtful”? Cry me a river to whomever feels “hurt” by science.

      1. Why don’t they just commandeer those hurtful words, like they did “queer”, and make it acceptable?

      1. Jim22,
        Why, those brave . . . things, pretending to be . . . things they are not.
        When it is pointed out they are not those . . . things, they then break down into sobbing . . . things.
        Or even worse, they declare they are not being . . . seen. Even when they are sitting right there, for all to . . . see.

  17. Talk about the decline of an empire. Rather than comparing America with the fall of Rome, we should carefully look to understand the destruction of our most closely related culture/nation and take heed as to how it destroyed itself as we are on the same path with the prog/left pushing us over the precipice.

  18. This is why we need to END federal support of cities, states, colleges…NPR, BBC, etc
    State Sponsored Censorship needs to END!

    1. “Its over folks.”

      Tom, how many times it was over for the Jews? It is never over while you can still breathe. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Romans, Persians, and to the Holocaust, the Jews were so-called finished, but the Jews are here, thriving, even though the others are gone.

      Should you have a streaming service, download her music. Do the same for any conservative censored, whether entertainment, books, etc. I explained in an earlier posting how Lawfare against writers ended. It is not over until it is over. The odds need not be in your favor. The only thing you need to do is fight to win. They will lose.

      STREAM HER SONGS, so they learn that censorship leads to the opposite result.

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