Peer's talk on free speech cancelled over retweeting Ricky Gervais gag
Peer has university talk on cancel culture and free speech shelved after being cancelled for retweeting Ricky Gervais joke about transgender people
- Baroness Fox of Buckley was furious after being disinvited by Royal Holloway
- Debating society cancelled her after she retweeted a Ricky Gervais joke
- Comedian joked about ‘old-fashioned women, you know, the ones with wombs’
A peer was left ‘furious’ after a university debating society shelved her talk on cancel culture and free speech because she retweeted a Ricky Gervais joke about transgender people.
Baroness Fox of Buckley, 52, was disinvited by the debating society at Royal Holloway, University of London, following complaints from students about her support for the joke.
Fox was due to speak about the ‘importance of debate’, which was set to incorporate the issues of cancel culture and free speech. Instead, she ironically found herself being cancelled ahead of the first in-person talk there since the pandemic.
The Times reports that Fox said the society was ‘browbeaten’ into shelving her talk after complaints from the Royal Holloway Students’ Union (RHSU).
Fox was accused of having transphobic views – which she denies – for retweeting the gag.
Baroness Fox of Buckley, (pictured) was left ‘furious’ after a university debating society shelved her talk on cancel culture and free speech because she retweeted a Ricky Gervais joke about transgender people
The 52-year-old peer was disinvited by the debating society at Royal Holloway (pictured), University of London
Gervais had joked about ‘the old-fashioned women, you know, the ones with wombs’ and the ‘new ones we’ve been seeing lately with beards and c****’ in his last Netflix special ‘SuperNature’.
RHSU president Maia Jarvis flagged to the debating society that Fox had shared a clip of the joke with the caption: ‘Whole trans-identity ideology skewered in a mere 1, yes 1, minute.
‘And all deliverd through the prism of an exasparated ridiculing of ‘old fashioned’, ‘dinosaur’ women with wombs, like me. I own up. And I laughed. Kudos to @rickygervais for this.
Speaking about the ordeal, Fox said: ‘I had been cleared to talk by the university, because, funnily enough, I am not a hate-monger.
‘Then six societies complained to the student union. The student union rescinded their clearance and started pestering the society and putting a lot of pressure on them.
‘They tried to fight it off, but eventually caved in. I was furious because the students that invited me were all upset.’
Gervais had joked about ‘the old-fashioned women, you know, the ones with wombs’ and the ‘new ones we’ve been seeing lately with beards and c****’ in his last Netflix special (pictured)
Fox was accused of having transphobic views – which she denies – for retweeting the gag (above)
In an email reported by the Telegraph, Ms Jarvis had warned the society: ‘Claire Fox retweets and praises this video of Ricky Gervais being overtly transphobic. I wonder if you have thought about the impact of bringing a person who is an advocate for hate towards trans people and publicly ridicules them.’
But Fox told The Times: ‘That [the tweet] was the evidence! That made me laugh. It was an insubstantial point.’
The peer denied being transphobic and called the allegations made against her ‘a malicious slur’. She also revealed this has happened to her at universities on three separate occasions, which ‘is having a chilling effect’.
The RHSU said it supported cancelling the talk ‘to safeguard out transgender community and will always seek to protect the safety of our marginalised people on campus’.
Royal Holloway insisted it was committed to free speech and hopes ‘to to create an inclusive and supportive environment’.
Source: Read Full Article