Róisín Murphy repeats anti-trans rhetoric while decrying ‘cancel culture’ at Westminster event · News ⟋ RA
- The Irish artist revisited widely criticised 2023 comments on puberty blockers, framing the industry backlash as censorship.
- Róisín Murphy has reiterated her stance on gender-affirming care and claims of industry “censorship” during a parliamentary event in London this week.
Speaking at a launch for a report by campaign group Freedom in the Arts last Monday, April 27th, the Irish artist described the backlash to her 2023 comments on puberty blockers for trans youth as “professional exile,” alleging that promoters, collaborators and media distanced themselves following the controversy.
Her original remarks characterised puberty blockers as harmful and framed trans young people as “confused,” drawing widespread criticism from fans, artists and LGBTQIA+ groups at the time. Medical consensus and major health bodies support gender-affirming care as a regulated and evidence-based practice.
She has since doubled-down, describing the idea of someone changing sex as “insane” and “the core hallucination of this destructive and insidious movement.” This led to festivals including Istanbul’s Back In Town removing the former Moloko vocalist from their programme.
At the Westminster event, Murphy expanded her position, suggesting that artists are being pressured into self-censorship and that public arts funding favours “ideological conformity.” She also described younger critics online as “social media enforcers,” a claim frequently associated with broader cancel culture narratives.
Murphy made the comments just two days after an investigation from the Good Law Project found that trans people in the UK face a disproportionately high risk of suicide. Evidence points to systemic issues like long waits for gender-affirming care, inadequate mental health support, and social stigma as contributing factors, with experts warning many of these deaths may be preventable.
The Blessed Madonna addressed Murphy’s situation on Instagram today, April 30th, pointing out that “you’re not being silenced if you’re talking into a microphone at the House of Lords.” The US artist argued that what she is experiencing is “considerably simpler” than a boycott. “Consequences.”
Read Murphy, The Blessed Madonna and the Good Law Project’s posts in full.