Irish singer Róisín Murphy’s record label has halted its marketing efforts for her upcoming album after screenshots of her criticizing puberty blockers on Facebook began circulating online.
The screenshot, first shared by “hairy fairy” Joanna Cuddle, features a comment from Murphy pleading not to be called a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” for criticizing gender ideology and the medical transitioning of minors.
“Please don’t call me a TERF, please don’t keep using that word against women. I beg you,” she wrote, continuing: “puberty blockers ARE F*CKED, 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.”
According to Toronto Star, Murphy’s comments caused an uproar among LGBT activists, who claimed her words are “harmful to the trans community.” Among them was Cuddle, who denounced Murphy’s former allegiance to the LGBT community in an angry thread on X:
“You claim to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and perform at queer festivals such as @homobloc – but here you are letting down your trans fans (and any trans friends you may have) by buying into ‘gender critical’ transphobic conspiracy theories,” he wrote.
Continuing his long-winded thread, Cuddle, who uses “he/she/they” pronouns, explained that the term “TERF” is reserved exclusively for women who are “transphobic” and attempts to educate Murphy on the history of puberty blockers and their alleged necessity for the wellbeing of children.
“Puberty blockers are lifesaving for cis kids and even more so for trans kids. Should we ban all lifesaving treatment if pharmaceutical companies make a profit over them? That would mean banning ALL medicines.”
Cuddle then calls on Murphy to “reflect on her post” if she ever wants to be considered an LGBT ally again.
“So reflect on your post, reflect on your views, reflect on your fans and your friends, cos you’re never going to be able to claim being an LGBTQ+ ally unless you learn from this, admit your mistakes and make amends. That’s the TRUTH @roisinmurphy #RoisinMurphyTerf.”
In response to the backlash, Murphy, who has admitted to having an appreciation for queer culture and music in the past, issued an apology on X.
“I cannot apologize enough for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social-media fire and brimstone,” she began. “I am so sorry my comments have been directly hurtful to many of you. I understand fixed views are not helpful, but I really hope people can understand my concern was out of love for all of us.”
Concluding her apology, Murphy vowed to “bow out of [the] conversation,” explaining that campaigning is not what she does and her true calling is making music.
Although fans were quick to show Murphy support for coming forward with a public apology, her London-based record label, Ninja Tune, announced it was no longer promoting her album and would instead be donating to organizations “dedicated to combating transphobia.”
Murphy’s highly-anticipated album ‘Hit Parade’ will be released on September 8 worldwide.
