BBC denies Róisín Murphy was removed from 6 Music line-up over puberty blockers controversy
The BBC has denied that Róisín Murphy’s publicised views on puberty blockers are the reason that a scheduled programme about her has been removed.
Five hours of the Irish singer’s songs, interviews and concert highlights were due to play on BBC Radio 6 Music next week as part of the station’s Artist Collection series.
Murphy caused controversy last month when previous comments that she made on Facebook about puberty blockers surfaced.
“Please don’t call me a terf [trans exclusionary radical feminist]. But puberty blockers ARE FUCKED, 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 wrote online.
The singer-songwriter responded to the backlash to her views, claiming that she’d been “thrown into a very public discourse” but that she “should’ve known too that I was stepping out of line”.
The former Moloko singer apologised in a post on Twitter for triggering an “eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social media fire and brimstone”.
— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) August 29, 2023
Puberty blockers are sometimes used by transgender children. According to Planned Parenthood, these medical treatments can be used to “help your body better reflect” your gender identity.
BBC Radio 6 Music’s programme on Murphy was scheduled to air between midnight and 5am this Monday (September 18).
The show has now been replaced with one about Little Simz. The BBC has said that the decision was taken to align with poetry, rap and spoken word programming that’s due to air in the same week.
A BBC spokesperson said [via The Independent]: “The Artist Collections from our archive are regularly on rotation and frequently change to reflect station-wide initiatives as they get confirmed.
“Little Simz was scheduled to reflect 6 Music’s Way With Words programming, which celebrates poetry, rap and spoken word, and airs the following week, tying in with National Poetry Day.
“There was no other reason for the change. Róisín Murphy has been played on 6 Music recently and her Artist Collection remains in rotation.”
The singer’s new album ‘Hit Parade’ dropped on Friday (September 8) but its release has been marred by controversy over her statements on trans rights.
Following Murphy’s comments, reports emerged that her label was planning on donating the proceeds from ‘Hit Parade’ to pro-trans groups. It was also claimed that Ninja Tune had halted all marketing and promotion for the record.
However, Murphy has since denied this after a user on Twitter questioned how she felt about Ninja Tune’s apparent decision.
“Well, those reports were unconfirmed by the label,” she replied. “They have made no official statement whatsoever and they are not intending to donate proceeds from the charity. I checked!”
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Charlotte Krol
NME
