U.K. comedy writer Graham Linehan arrested over tweets critical of gender ideology, hospitalized after stress

Acclaimed British comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his return from the United States, in connection with three tweets critical of gender ideology.

Linehan detailed the experience in a recent Substack post, describing how he was met by five armed police officers upon landing and taken into custody. The arrest, he claimed, followed complaints by transgender activists about tweets he had posted, which included commentary on men in women’s spaces and a controversial metaphor involving self-defence.

The ordeal began earlier in his journey, when an airline gate official in Arizona told Linehan he had no seat on the flight, something he now believes was a sign he had been flagged by authorities due to external complaints. At Heathrow, Linehan said the police confiscated his belongings and placed him in a small cell before interviewing him about each tweet “with the sort of earnest intensity usually reserved for discussing something serious like……. crime.” He defended his posts as a mix of serious points delivered with humour, emphasizing concerns about men entering women’s spaces.

However, the interview reportedly grew tense when the police officer used terminology such as “trans people,” prompting Linehan to challenge the language. “Our sex isn’t assigned,” he argued, accusing police of adopting activist language influenced by groups like Stonewall.

The stress of the arrest took a serious physical toll. When a nurse checked on him in custody, his blood pressure was dangerously high, leading to a rushed hospital admission. Linehan attributed his condition to the combined strain of the arrest, travel fatigue and a prolonged campaign of harassment from activists.

“I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me and banned from speaking online – all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers. To me, this proves one aspect beyond doubt: The U.K. has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad,” Linehan wrote on Substack.

Following his release, Linehan’s sole bail condition is a ban on using the virtual communication platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Linehan, best known for co-creating the hit TV series Father Ted, has gained attention for his outspoken stance against the mistreatment of children and transgender extremism, particularly after witnessing an incident involving a feminist being attacked by trans activists.

Linehan’s arrest sparks outrage over free speech under Starmer

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling used her X account to share the news. “What the f*** has the U.K. become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable,” she wrote, along with a repost from The Free Speech Union. X users replied to her post, criticizing Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his repeated assertions that the U.K. remains a proud defender of free speech.

“So in today’s U.K., five armed officers can’t be spared for knife crime on the streets, but they’ve got time to storm Heathrow over three tweets? Orwell must be rolling in his grave. How does a nation justify unleashing counter-terror style policing on a comedy writer while violent thugs and paedophiles walk free? When the state fears words more than weapons, civilization is already in trouble,” one user replied.

“No one is safe in Starmer’s Britain, writers and authors are not under threat from imprisonment and cancellation,” another one wrote.

yogaesoteric
September 7, 2025