Dame Edna Everage has “hello possum-ed” her way into hearts around the world for decades. But Barry Humphries is bound to isolated many former fans with his most recent interview.
The Australian comedian has spoken out against the “carry on” surrounding Caitlyn Jenner.
In an interview with The Telegraph UK, Humphries has backed claims made by prominent feminist academic Germaine Greer, that transgender women are not “real women”.
Greer received a great deal of backlash in October last year after stating that transgender women are not women, rather men “who believe that they are women and have themselves castrated.”
Of Jenner’s recent transition, Humphries said, “I agree with Germaine! You’re a mutilated man, that’s all.”
“Self-mutilation, what’s all this carry on?” he continued. “Caitlyn Jenner — what a publicity-seeking ratbag. It’s all given the stamp — not of respectability, but authenticity or something.”
Authenticity that, evidently, Humphries cannot see.
“If you criticise anything you’re racist or sexist or homophobic.”
WATCH: Dame Edna on Parkinson…
Humphries told The Telegraph that he allows his characters to speak for themselves. Especially when it comes to the controversial. “Yes, it’s wonderful!” he said. “Les can say what he likes. I can say: ‘I disapprove of what Edna said the other night’.”
Well, not this time. This one’s on you, Barry.
Top Comments
Greer, when contacted by The Daily Telegraph, backed up her fellow Antipodean. "Barry is a friend," she said. "The whole thing has got so ridiculous. I've had people shouting at me on the train, I've been threatened with a forcible sex change. All I'm saying is that I don't accept that post-operative transsexuals are women."
In the same article someone else said Barry should apologise or resign from his job because he is promoting hatred.
This is where it is absolutely ridiculous, neither of them invited violence against trans people (as far as I'm aware), they are just expressing the view that men aren't women! Which should be a fairly logical viewpoint, but in any case is hardly promoting hatred
We laugh at countries that believe in outdated things as witchcraft, or places where they decide to lock someone up for calling a teddy bear Mohammed etc, yet here we are in the Western World not only deciding that men are now women but anyone who disagrees with this crazy notion will be hounded and vilified, no of course we are supposedly more "civilised" than those in other countries, we won't kill these people or put them in jail for saying a man is not a woman instead we will ruin their lives by trying to ensure they lose their livelihoods. This is true "promoting hatred".
I read the article about Barry Humphries, and he said a few things I profoundly agree with.
"Humphries is not, he insists, particularly Right wing. “I don’t know anything about politics. But the far Left is so conservative, paradoxically, inflexible, doctrinaire and humourless. You can’t describe the world as it is any more. You get jumped on.” Does he? He chortles. “I’m happy to say I do. I give offence therefore I am. Not too much offence, though.”
By the way I've always been left wing but I feel like the left have started to lose their way a little. Not that I have much faith in the right wing though, who seem to want to make us all live under the poverty line, but Barry talked about there being a new puratism, and I agree.
And about Jenner he said "publicity-seeking ratbag. It’s all given the stamp – not of respectability, but authenticity or something. If you criticise anything you’re racist or sexist or homophobic.”
The thing is in the whole interview though he mentioned the Jenner topic once, he also said something very affirming about women which I see has not been reported:
"He’s a fan of most contemporary comedians (“though why aren’t there more women? Maybe it’s because they are smarter than men”)"