TV writer Graham Linehan's arrest over transgender posts sparks free speech outcry in the UK

Audio By Carbonatix

LONDON (AP) — The co-creator of British TV sitcoms “Father Ted" and the "IT Crowd" said he was arrested over a series of posts about transgender people.

Graham Linehan, 57, said he was arrested Monday at Heathrow Airport after arriving from Arizona. The Metropolitan Police didn't name Linehan but said it had arrested a man at the airport on suspicion of inciting violence in posts on X.

Linehan, who is well known for posts asserting that trans women are men, said in April that trans women were violent criminals if they used women-only facilities. He advocated hitting them if calling police and other measures failed to stop them from using such facilities.

His post on X came just days after the head of the U.K’s Equality and Human Rights Commission said transgender women would be excluded from women-only spaces such as toilets, single-sex hospital wards and sports teams. The decision followed a ruling by Britain's highest court that the terms “woman” and “man” refer to biological sex for antidiscrimination purposes.

Conservative members of Parliament condemned the arrest.

“Britain used to be known for its sense of humor," Conservative MP Claire Coutinho said. “Now the police are arresting people for making jokes.”

Linehan said in a post on Substack that the questioning by police sent his blood pressure soaring and he was taken to the hospital and kept under observation before being released on bail. The Irish writer said the only condition for his release was that he could not post on X.

He is due to appear Thursday in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on a separate case in which he is accused of harassing a transgender woman and damaging her phone. He has denied the charge.