Father Ted writer, Graham Linehan’s troubling public commentary on the trans community continues apace with recent comments he made on the internet radio show Derrick Jensen Resistance Radio. 

During a conversation about the backlash he received following transphobic comments, he stated: “The opposition is so extreme and so frightening that eventually everyone is asking you to stop. My feeling is I can’t, because it’s too important. It’s too important to the women in my life and it’s too important to me.I’m now in a position where I can now answer the question honestly of, if you were around the time of something terrible happening like Nazism, would you be one of the people who said, ‘This is wrong,’ despite being opposed? I feel happy in myself that I’ve been one of the people saying up and saying, ‘No, this is wrong,’ despite everyone telling me not to do it.”

It did not stop there. Linehan, who was also given a police warning for sharing the personal details of a trans activist on Twitter, continued: “If you don’t point it out now when they’re affecting other people, you won’t have a chance against it when it happens to you. The thing I can easily see happening, because I’ve had experience with these type of people already, is someone in a changing room, a man walks in, absolutely no indication he’s a woman.

“The woman challenges it, the man says, ‘No, I’m sorry, I’m a woman, this is my female beard, this is my female penis, and you’re guilty of hate speech.’ If you don’t think that’s going to happen, I don’t know what world you’re living in because it’s already happened.”

https://twitter.com/maevehiggins/status/1069960399477530624

Alongside the many reactions to his comments on this particular interview, the Father Ted creator also got into a Twitter spat with Linda Riley, the editor of DIVA Magazine who queried why he kept bringing up lesbians in his anti-trans arguments.

Can’t believe you went with the old “Some of my best friends are Lesbians” line Graham. Just cos you know a couple of Lesbians it does n’t mean you speak for all of us you know! I need to be careful, next you’ll be asking for a spot as @DIVAmagazine ‘s guest editor! https://t.co/JXPKHo1saz

— Linda Riley (@LindaRiley8) December 11, 2018

One commenter posted: “After seeing Graham Linehan so often telling men to shut the fuck up because they’re men discussing women’s issues, it’s therefore rather weird and confusing seeing him, a middle-aged cis man, lecturing Linda Riley, a notable and learned lesbian, about lesbian rights.”

https://twitter.com/billysubway/status/1070083000724000770