Comedians Richard Ayoade and Jonathan Ross today joined a rapidly growing list of beloved entertainment stars who trans activists are trying to cancel.
The pair’s ‘crime’ – according to the campaigners – was to review a book written by controversial comedy writer Graham Linehan.
Mr Linehan is long-time target of activists, who shut down his planned appearance at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival. He performed elsewhere in the city.
Last night, he announced he had written a book about his experiences of going from the widely-celebrated writer of Father Ted and The IT Crowd to being cancelled.
The front cover of ‘Tough Crowd’ features two quotes from Mr Ayoade and Mr Ross.
Mr Ayoade, who shot to fame playing Maurice Mosse on The IT Crowd, said: ‘His brilliance in prose is equal to his brilliance as a scriptwriter.’
Mr Ayoade – who shot to fame playing Maurice Mosse on the IT Crowd – praised the writing
The book prompted a now-familiar series of tweets criticising the people involved in the book
Mr Ross’s featured remark said: ‘A must-read book – funny and utterly compelling.’
The innocuous comments sparked an online pile-on from activists directed at the two comedians.
Bad Writing Takes fumed on Twitter: ‘LGBTQ+ fans have been shocked and disappointed to discover that along with the usual collection of transphobes, Graham “Glinner” Linehan’s new book contains an endorsement from Richard Ayoade.
‘Ayoade has not publicly endorsed transphobic or anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry before.’
Jen Ives claimed: ‘Just tore down my topless Richard Ayoade poster.’
Trans woman and broadcaster India Willoughby posted online: ‘Well that’s Richard Ayoade in the bin, along with already confirmed TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] Jonathan Ross.
‘What is wrong with these people?’
Trans activists slating Mr Ayoade is a ‘culture war’ twist that perhaps no one could have seen coming.
Jonathan Ross’s (pictured at The Biltmore hotel in Mayfair for rapper Stormzy’s birthday in July) remark on the book cover read: ‘A must-read book – funny and utterly compelling’
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Comedian and writer Graham Linehan performs outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland after the comedy show he was performing in was canceled from two different venues
He is married to Lydia Fox, who is the sister of controversial actor-turned-aspiring politician Laurence Fox.
Mr Ayoade was said to have been furious with Mr Fox when the latter was a guest panellist on Question Time in 2020 and said ‘woke’ people are ‘fundamentally racist’.
In April, Mr Fox told The Sunday Times he had fallen out with his brother-in-law. He revealed he didn’t got to Sunday lunch at their house for a few weekends as a result of their feud but claimed to have since become friends again.
Mr Fox said: ‘[He] was furious. He told me I have never encountered racism. I responded. “Yeah, of course I have”.
‘I’ve encountered racism from black people towards me, when I was working in Kenya [as a safari driver] for seven months. It’s the way you’re spoken to. Racism can be deferential.’
Róisín Murphy, pictured here at Connect Festival 2023, has been targeted by trans activists over comments she made on her private Facebook page calling puberty blockers ‘f*****’
The singer, 50, returned to Twitter to promote her new album after the storm on social media
The book quote row is the latest in a seemingly-endless series of attempts by trans activists on twitter to cancel high-profile figures.
Former Moloko frontwoman Roisin Murphy was the most recent after writing a post on Facebook expressing concerns about the use of puberty blockers on children and how drug companies were profiting from the treatments.
It sparked a storm among some quarters of society and prompted a heartbreaking apology from Ms Murphy.
Her record company Ninja Tunes were said to have stopped promoting her new album Hit Parade and she had two launch gigs cancelled.
The BBC also abandoned a night of her music scheduled on 6 Music without any explanation.
But the efforts pillory her backfired spectacularly as fans bought her new record in greater numbers than ever before.
Ms Murphy scored her career highest chart entry at No 2 in the wake of the controversy.
MailOnline has contacted representatives of Mr Ross and Mr Ayoade over this latest online criticism but had received no response by the time of publication.
