Sheffield Central Labour Candidate - Abtisam Mohamed vs Eddie Izzard

I can't believe he actually said this? Has he been misquoted or something?!

"Hello little people of Sheffield, England! I've come to rescue you from your geographical misfortune. I'll be able to tell all my global celebrity mates at my London parties, in London, about where you are (between London and the North Pole) and show them photos of you going about your daily lives in your charming country ways. Don't forget to vote for me so you can see me representing you on the telly, whilst talking about myself and my life!"

Let’s face it. There is a low bar for abuse these days for some groups, yet women are expected to just dismiss a cream pie and not call it violence.

This also implies that they hung over the cubicle door while Eddie was going, which is entirely dishonest.

including being photographed by a gender-critical feminist using the women’s toilet

The horror. Perhaps he/she/they could pop back into boy mode when he/she/they needs the loo, I'm sure it's quicker and easier, and leave women in peace.

Ouch, that was badly phrased. I realise EI is obviously going to have to position this as a national v local experience thing, which is ok in itself. Perfectly fine to say I think my time on the NEC is particularly helpful and qualifies me better than the other candidates who haven't been on the NEC because list of reasons. But that was emphatically not the way to put it! And Izzard is smart, a good writer. Why did they think this was a good idea?!

It's abusive to photograph a man coming out of the women's toilet?

Eddie is legally male.

and his quotes make basic political errors as they are full of statements that do not look good to start with and can be twisted further by opponents who will be broadcasting that Eddie is saying that nobody knows where Sheffield is

It is great that he is taking time out from his busy life to shower a bit of stardust and glitz onto the poor little northerners

That whole Guardian piece was pure cringe. His arrogance is off the scale and he seems to have no self-awareness. Also hope that normal people see through him and he comes last. Might send a message to the wider Labour party to get their heads out of their backsides on this issue

Yes, that is a cringeworthy level of arrogance. Does he really believe he is better positioned to represent Sheffield constituents than those who live and work there and understand issues at a local level?

““If they do want a supercharged councillor, there are great people there. But the thing that I bring that is different, is their activism has been local and my activism has been national and international .. Because I have a personality, I am a character, and I am known across the UK and across the world, people will be saying: ‘Eddie Izzard, so tell me about Sheffield. Where is Sheffield?’"

Could he be any more condescending? I am sure the locals will love this sort of attitude.

If Izzard is expecting the good people of Sheffield to refer to him as a she I think he's going to alienate a huge amount of people. I hope he comes last.

The Guardian reports that

In a short telephone interview with the Guardian on Thursday, Izzard said she had suffered a “torrent of transphobic abuse” since announcing her candidacy, including being photographed by a gender-critical feminist using the women’s toilet.

www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/27/eddie-izzard-rules-out-appearing-on-all-women-labour-mp-shortlist

I'd like to know the source of that figure. I'm not disputing it, but it would be good to be able to cite it.

Why are Labour willing to alienate the electorate? I don't know, but I would guess that a) they are keen to get the youth vote, and much larger proportions of young people believe TWAW than in the electorate as a whole and b) Starmer is probably surrounded by young policy dudes who reassure him that this is a really important civil rights issue and the only people who disagree are silly old women who are such bigots that there is no point trying to win their vote.

I actually think Izzard will struggle. It might be a safe seat but the people of Sheffield will want to vote for someone who can represent their concerns. This will not be a celebrity from London who doesn't know what gender they are.

Silly comment by Lee Anderson. I'd have no problem following Eddie Izzard into the toilet. He is a man and so am I .

Always assuming it was the men's toilet! Yes , it will be interesting to see if he is given a written warning by Knacker of the Yard. Actually he looks a bit intimidating.

Maybe we should all present ourselves at our local police station and demand to be arrested en mass? Inspired by Rosie, who seems to be setting off a little wave of rebellion.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=sUs1RJabN4s

Probably going to be a bit too busy to draw the Tombola at the Sheffield CLP Xmas party, eh?

Seems that EI has a backup plan:
playbill.com/article/eddie-izzard-will-play-21-characters-off-broadway-in-charles-dickens-great-expectations

'A conservative MP Lee Anderson has been reported to the police for hate crime. He commented on Eddie and toilets. Will be interesting to see if the police have the time to investigate this.'

Oh FFS. Maybe not a bad thing though, yet more sunlight for the whole issue

I strongly suspect that it would drop to about 0.05% of the electorate if they were aware that we are taking about Karen White and not Hayley Cropper.

A number of women have been arrested (and of course, later realised, because there is no "crime") for similar comments.

The process is the punishment. I await with interest the Met response to 30p-Lee's comments.

Screenshots of the Facebook post, ‘reactions’ to the post, story of the police report, plus Guardian story of the ‘hatecrime’ from yesterday…

www.chad.co.uk/news/people/ashfield-mp-accused-of-clear-cut-hate-crime-for-remarks-about-eddie-izzard-3895758m

www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/26/tory-mp-under-fire-for-transphobic-comments-about-eddie-izzard