Lisa Nandy wears ‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirt at Pride event

who spectacularly loses a no-rules boxing ring style fight-to-the-death due to his own relentless showboating

Is that an analogy for something wider?

I thought TLllL had died a death after the founders were exposed as stupid grifters. I’m off for a gander.

Whole history of them on the terrible fruit site IIRC.

I thought Pascal was excellent in Game of Thrones (he plays a flamboyant and fashionable bisexual foreign prince who spectacularly loses a no-rules boxing ring style fight-to-the-death due to his own relentless showboating)

Not seen him in anything else but his overexposure & red carpet/interview behaviour has me expecting him to be publicly MeTooed at some point in the not too distant future. No idea if I expect his eventual accusers to be male or female, or both (as in multiple people of both sexes, not as in people who claim to be both sexes).

edit: vowel movement

I quite liked Pedro Pascal in Narcos and was disappointed to find he was such a wet blanket.

I have no idea if he's gay, I just get an extremely gay vibe from him.

You never seem to hear about him dating anyone, and I know that doesn't tell you anything given how many obviously gay actors are "dating" opposite sex actors. The entertainment industry goes in for an enormous amount of pinkwashing but still doesn't seem to be able to cope with LGB stars.

Surely the point about those tee-shirts is, even if you don't properly understand the reference, it just sounds creepy AF.

The glowstick dance was extremely camp.

I've seen a lot of speculation that Pascal is closeted. If he is, I can understand why. I suspect lots of roles might be closed to him because Hollywood would be less likely to cast him as a leading man. The same studios and directors that think they're so progressive.

And in other Nandy News…

Lisa Nandy in new cronyism row after charity choice for project

https://www.thetimes.com/article/13e28389-2b30-414c-b642-6faebe961046?shareToken=a79adc1278451a387422f8b2af6c4e2d

The original celeb version is from London fashion week (AW 2025 collections) and raises money for Translifeline (a charity with an extremely shady history!)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeetendrsehdev/2025/04/26/protect-the-dolls-how-a-99-t-shirt-redefined-the-power-of-fashion/

https://connerives.com/products/pre-order-protect-the-dolls-t-shirt

Pedro Pascal is a perfectly good supporting actor, who for some mysterious reason is appearing in everything as the lead actor, to not very impressive effect. My best theory is that Hollywood execs are trying to subvert the old concept of the masculine leading man by taking the least masculine male actor around and giving him every lead role going.

Anyway, Pascal is super political, super left wing, never shuts up about his causes, I believe has a trans sibling, and showed up at some event wearing a "Protect the Dolls" t-shirt, giving visibility to the slogan. It was then picked up by elderly pop singer Madonna, and every other celebrity wanting a fashionable cause.

Nandy is downstream of all that.

TBF it looks at though it’s a ‘Leigh Pride’ shirt that Nandy has been given as a promotional freebie so technically it’s Leigh Pride who are ripping off Pedro Pascal’s US Dolls campaign rather than a decision made by Nandy (who perhaps doesn’t even have the brain power to notice).

I've never heard of Pedro Pascal. I've heard of Pedro Almodóvar, though. I used to love his films, but I shudder to think where he stands in all this.

Definitely on brand for Nandy to pick a slogan that outrages the people she's trying to butter up.

I suspect that, in her culture secretary role, she's heard of Pedro Pascal using the slogan and thinks that's the cutting edge of discourse.

I don't think she's sharp enough to realise that cinema audiences are rapidly tiring of Pedro Pascal being in everything (he's a capable character actor but Hollywood's obsession with making him a leading man is baffling) and a key part of Pedro Pascal fatigue is him being hyper-political all the time.

From my ( thankfully limited) experience the dolls are quite capable of ‘protecting’ themselves.

Oooh, I had a Sindy when I was little.
I wouldn't like to be called a 'doll'.
Maybe it's a 'Guys and Dolls' reference originally?

I'm an autistic auld bag who still collects Sindy dolls but what grown woman wants to be referred to as a "doll" ? FFS

Absolute eegit

“Doll” is a slang term from the 1980s for biological men who “pass” as women. Trans people who do not look as feminine are referred to as “bricks”.
The slogan has previously been criticised as both misogynistic, as it compares women with dolls, and transphobic, as it excludes those who do not succeed in looking like the gender they identify with.

That slogan has managed with admirable economy to enrage almost everyone. The only people who appear to vibe with it are very privileged media types. It's Hollywood allyship - always performative, never helpful.

Ahhhh, I see. I wondered why there was so much anger at her T shirt. Is it because men who don't 'pass' as convincingly as women feel that she's leaving them out?

Whether a man is a 'doll' or a 'brick' is a very subjective judgement.

What a skill she has in managing to alienate all sides with such ease. I'm not sure if she thought too much about the meaning of the slogan.

When I see and hear protect the dolls I imagine big macho men escorting teetering TW into the men's loos and guarding their modesty. India is a doll by all accounts. 🤢

Do the dolls need protecting? Were they asked if they wanted this slogan? Certainly it’s clever and strategic (along with manipulative and duplicitous) to use the term ‘doll’ as the slogan as it conjures up images of something dainty and fragile. Unlike many TW.

And Lisa Nandy is an idiot IMO. How can she (or anyone) not see that those 6 foot 200lb blokes wearing lipstick right behind her would be of concern to any woman being told to share space with them?

Does raise the question as who to vote for next election. DH voted Labour last time and regrets it now.

How gender ideology is damaging to progressive causes was highlighted again for me in reading this NYT article about the female lawyer writing some of Trump’s EO’s in relation to American universities. Some have to do with race based admissions but many were in response to Ms Mailman’s concerns about gender taking precedence over sex and mentions Lia Thomas being allowed in women’s swimming as one significant case. If those universities had been more cognisant of protecting young women, this would never have become a useful campaign issue for Trump.

Excellent telegraph article.

what a fucking moron