And SPECTACULARLY so.

But Ima tease you with that and hit Dr. Peabody’s WayBack machine first.

Once upon a time, there was a well-known Irish singer-songwriter and record producer named Róisín Murphy. Now, she’s a bit too off the Euro-techno cliff for me, but she’s pretty darn popular there, and good for her.

She’s SO popular, in fact, that the BBC had put together some 5 hours of Murphy’s videos, songs, interviews, and the like for broadcast next week (multiple showings afterward) as part of an artist series they do called “The 6 Music Artist Collection.” That’s a pretty big deal and great exposure, especially as she had a new album drop around the 8th of September.

Only, it didn’t come off.

…However, they were suddenly cancelled earlier this week with no explanation given to production staff.

Instead, new shows have been made to feature woke rapper Little Simz.

…Some old radio programmes featuring Ms Murphy, who was previously in 90’s band Moloko, are also unavailable to listen to on BBC Sounds.

Well, what on earth could have happene…OH.

…Two weeks ago, in a post written on Facebook, Ms Murphy called puberty blockers – gender-affirming care for transgender youth that prevent puberty – ‘absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank’ used for ‘little mixed-up kids.‘ She also urged for children to be protected.

Murphy requested that people did not call her a ‘TERF’ —or trans-exclusionary radical feminist which is a term used as a pejorative against those who advocate for women but oppose transgender identities—and suggested this term is used too often against women.

The post was screenshotted and shared across social media, prompted much anger from the trans community.

The trans mob was whipped into a frenzy and they were out for blood, even if they weren’t quite sure was she’d said. That she said “it” was enough, and, besides, they’d been pointed at the target, so they were duty bound to attack.

…It strikes me that social media has created a similar situation. The Irish singer Róisín Murphy has had gigs cancelled and record promotion stopped because someone took a screenshot of a message she had written on her private Facebook account. In it, she expressed doubts about puberty blockers, saying vulnerable children should be protected. She then added: “Please don’t call me a terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], please don’t keep using that word against women.”

The substance of what she said is in fact current policy of NHS England, which has pulled back on the use of puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria. There are concerns about the long-term side effects of these drugs. Instead, a “watchful waiting” approach is now the model. It turns out that, after puberty, many gender-confused children (increasingly, young girls) turn out to be simply gay.

Murphy had broken some unsaid rule in the arts, which is “Keep your head down on any issue to do with gender ideology”. There is one line and one line only or you will be cancelled. Yet Murphy did not even make a public statement: this was a private conversation. Half the people attacking her don’t even appear to know what she said, but the pyre has been built, so the crowd gathers to light the flame. It’s an awful spectacle.

Just to be clear, Roisin Murphy didn't campaign, she didn't write a blog post or an article, and she didn't make an announcement at a gig.

She just had an opinion. That, according to gender witch hunters like you, means she should be cast out of society.

— Tony Mahoney Calzoney (flim/flam) (@TonyPhatt) September 13, 2023

Even her new album, while generally acknowledged to be terrific, was smeared by the stench of TERFy terribleness. Any chance, any opening a media orifice or personality had to virtue signal to the trans-mob that they stood with them against THE HATE, they grabbed it and ran.

…Her metaphorical tarring and feathering was as swift as it was brutal. Virtual mobs declared her finished. They swore not to buy her album. They damned her as a phobe, a bigot, a traitor to her LGBTQ fanbase. Her record company reportedly called off all promotions for Hit Parade. Some of her public appearances were cancelled.

Then there were the reviews. They gushed over her album – it really is as good as everyone says – while shaming its maker as a possessor of wicked beliefs. This record comes with an ‘ugly stain’, said the Guardian, sounding for all the world like a neo-religious crackpot. One reviewer branded Murphy ‘cowardly’ and ‘disappointing’ and suggested she ‘unlearn [her] ignorance’. It was bleak stuff.

CLEANSE YOUR UNPURE SELF, HERETIC

She groveled apologized and, to be fair, I guess I can’t blame her. The howling viciousness of the storm can be terrifying, and not everyone – male or female – has the wherewithal of a J.K. Rowling to withstand it, particularly in the arts community. Witness my story last month on the brutalization of an Scottish playwright who also advocated – briefly – “protecting the children.”

This story has caused a bit of a stir this morning. The BBC claim their content ‘frequently changes to reflect station-wide initiatives’ while staff there tell me there was a meeting on Monday to cancel Roisin Murphy over her puberty blocker comments https://t.co/SbFEEBFRrp

— Katie Hind (@katiehind) September 13, 2023

Even as the BBC began spinning their various explanations of why Murphy’d disappeared from the schedule and listings entirely – “Oh, that kerfluffle had nothing to do with it…” – BBC viewers were making sure the BBC’s own hypocrisy was being blasted all over social media. Just the oddest thing, they pointed out, how one can’t have an artist saying “protect children” when the BBC basically celebrates child molesters.

Good morning to the bosses at @BBC6Music who removed #roisinmurphy from their schedule but are happy to profile John Peel who married a 15 year old, got blow jobs from a 13 yr old & who, at age 30, impregnated an underage girl who had to have an abortion. @Aja02537920 pic.twitter.com/1agzN66oOf

— Martin in Monmouthshire (@MartinMonmouth1) September 13, 2023

But a funny thing happened on the way to the witch burning.

People brought money instead of torches.

The attempted cancellation of Róisín Murphy has backfired spectacularly. Trans activists tried to destroy her after she spoke out against puberty blockers. Now her new album is the biggest chart success of her career. This is glorious, says Lauren Smith https://t.co/mbBAVU9dG9

— spiked (@spikedonline) September 12, 2023

“Humiliating defeat” is so lovely. And it sounds as if there’s more than just a commercial backlash building. Perhaps there’s another as well of conviction and moral courage in the face of these ghastly cretinous trans cancel mobs.

Irish singer-songwriter Róisín Murphy became the victim of a vicious witch hunt at the end of last month, after she spoke out against the use of experimental puberty blockers on gender-confused children. On her private Facebook page, the former Moloko frontwoman said that it was ‘fucked’ to give these drugs to ‘little mixed-up kids’.

…All the signs pointed to this being yet another conventional tale of a celebrity’s cancellation. At least, it seemed that way, until Hit Parade was released last week. Then something interesting happened. The boycott that so many trans activists had called for failed to materialise. Instead, Hit Parade flew off the shelves. The Official Charts Company announced yesterday that it had shot to the No2 spot on the UK Albums Chart, making it the best-performing album of Murphy’s career so far.

How refreshing it is to see an attempted cancellation fail so spectacularly. Perhaps there is a sizeable contingent of gender-critical music fans who have helped to boost Hit Parade’s sales (the hashtag ‘#IStandWithRoisinMurphy’ was at one point trending on X, with many feminists vowing to buy it out of solidarity).

…The horrid treatment of Murphy has even been a wake-up call for some in the arts. Irish novelist John Boyne – author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – wrote on X that Murphy’s story was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ for him on the trans issue. Boyne quite rightly pointed out that online activists are trying to ‘destroy the life of a woman who has done nothing’ other than to ‘suggest that vulnerable children should be protected’.

That’s the spirit.

More, please.