Comedy writer Graham Linehan has been permenantely banned from Twitter for ‘hateful conduct’.
Linehan, 53, was the creator of Black Books, Father Ted, and The IT Crowd. In recent years, he had taken an anti-trans stance on Twitter, frequently posting and sharing commentary on the issue. This first surfaced after an episode of The IT Crowd featured a negative reaction by a character upon discovering the woman he is on a date with is trans.
His most recent tweet was ‘Men aren’t women though’ in response to the Women’s Institute wishing a happy pride to their trans members.
Following the suspension, he posted on Mumsnet looking for support.
“I’m really sorry to barge in on you Mumsnettters with my problems, but I’ve been finally suspended from Twitter and I have a feeling they’re either going to ban me or just take my verified tick.”
“I’ve submitted an appeal with Twitter and the Better Business Bureau but I thought I’d post here too so people knew what was going on.”
The post said Linehan had been locked out of his account and forced to delete tweets to regain access several times before. It said “trans rights activists” had searched through his old tweets and reported them.
It concluded by asking Mumsnet readers to “let people know it’s entirely down to malicious reporting from the usual suspects” and urged them to watch his YouTube channel and visit his “depressing blog”.
In 2018, Linehan received a warning from West Yorkshire police after a row with the transgender activist Stephanie Hayden on Twitter, where she accused him of dead-naming – calling a transgender person by the name they used before their transition.
