Life

Graham Linehan has been permanently banned from Twitter for “hateful conduct”

By Matt Moore

28th June 2020

re:publica, via Flickr

The comedy writer was one of the most anti-trans accounts on the social media platform.

Comedy writer Graham Linehan has been permanently banned from Twitter after violating its policies on hateful conduct. The writer was known for comedies like Father Ted and The IT Crowd, but over the past few years has been more known for his anti-trans views.

Linehan had lost his blue tick verification earlier in the week over tweets which accused an LGBTQ+ group of ‘grooming’ and speaking to the Metro, a Twitter representative said that the ban was permanent.

“The account has been permanently suspended after repeated violations of our rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation,” they confirmed.

The ban came after Linehan responded to a tweet by the Women’s Institute, which was wishing a happy Pride to its trans members. In the tweet, he wrote: “Men aren’t women tho.”

Ted Eytan via Flickr

Following his suspension, Linehan took to Mumsnet to claim that his ban came about as Twitter has a “high percentage of trans-identified employees.”

Linehan has a long history of transphobia, comparing trans activists to Nazis, and in a Newsnight interview compared doctors treating trans children to Nazi scientists, claimed that the recently leaked government plans aren’t actually rolling back trans rights, and said that Marsha P. Johnson wasn’t a trans woman before subsequently misgendering her.

He has also attacked other sexualities, claiming that pansexuality was “bollocks” and that people who identified as queer were actually just straight.

Many LGBTQ+ people on Twitter were thankful for the social media platform taking action, particularly those who Linehan had targeted, often getting his followers to ‘pile on’ certain people.

Susie Green, the Chair of Mermaids wrote: “As one of the countless people directly targeted by Graham Linehan I am glad his account has been permanently suspended. I think he is deeply troubled. Twitter has become a dark place in the last few years with blatant transphobia and hate.”

And Munroe Bergdorf added: “As someone who Graham Linehan repeatedly abused, I am happy that today @twitter is a little bit safer for all trans people. Transphobia is not an opinion, it is not ‘free speach’, it is violent, toxic and harmful.”

https://twitter.com/MunroeBergdorf/status/1276924257017180161

https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1276809246806597632

https://twitter.com/junodawson/status/1276808811186176000