GRAHAM Linehan has released an audio recording of his arrest at Heathrow Airport.
In a clip published online, the Father Ted creator can be heard reacting with disbelief as he is stopped by officers and told he is accused of inciting violence in an entry on X/Twitter about trans issues that he posted in April.
He tells one officer: “I’m a f****** comedy writer, I wrote Father Ted. Are you a f****** idiot?… It’s just disgraceful.”
When told he is under arrest, he shouts: “Holy shit, I don’t f****** believe it, do you know what this country looks like to America?,” before repeating “I’m going to sue you into the ground” several times.
He calls the officers “f****** bastards” and shouts “how dare you” before they urge him to calm down.
Shortly afterwards, Linehan can be heard saying: “I’m f****** infuriated. You scumbags are working for f****** arseholes who go into women’s toilets.”
Linehan was stopped by police at Heathrow on Monday after flying in from the United States.
He can be heard asking one of the officers whether they would let a man go into a toilet with their wife, and reacting angrily at the suggestion that he might be handcuffed.
“You will not walk me through a British airport in handcuffs… You don’t f****** cuff me for standing up for women’s rights,” he can be heard saying.
Opposition politicians and Harry Potter author JK Rowling were among those who reacted angrily to his arrest with gender-critical activists calling the move an attack on free speech.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said his officers should not be “policing toxic culture wars debates” and had been left in an impossible position implementing the law as it stands.
