Róisín Murphy says backlash to trans comments “wasn’t that bad”
Róisín Murphy has said that the backlash to her contentious comments concerning puberty blockers last year “wasn’t that bad”.
In August, Murphy sparked controversy with her views when she shared a comment on Facebook using her personal account, criticising the use of medicines to delay the changes of puberty for transgender and gender-diverse youth.
“Please don’t call me a terf,” she wrote. “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.”
And now, in a new interview with France 24 English, the former Moloko vocalist responded to a question about the incident and how she navigated the backlash that followed her comments.
“It wasn’t that bad, honestly,” she said. “The internet was not that bad. I didn’t get these death threats or anything like that. I got lots of support. I had three or four people ask for tickets back. So it really wasn’t terribly bad.”
“I don’t think what I said was seen as massively, massively difficult, you know, for people to understand where I was coming from, at the very least.”
“So it wasn’t so bad, and I’m still here, doing the best tour of my life, I think,” she concluded.
Murphy’s original comments went viral and came as a shock to some fans, particularly given the musician’s long-time support from the LGBTQ+ community. It also led to her issuing a public apology online, admitting that she was “stepping out of line” and vowing to stay out of the conversation going forward.
“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,” she stated.
“For those of you who are leaving me, or have already left, I understand, I really do, but please know I have loved every one of you.
“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.”
In September, the singer released her latest album, ‘Hit Parade’, and reports emerged that her label, Ninja Tune, were 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 later took to X to deny the claims
In the aftermath of the controversy, the BBC denied that a scheduled programme focusing on Murphy was removed due to the backlash.
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Max Pilley
NME
