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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

In light of the whole arts world supporting Macklemore over his censorship, who in the music industry supported Róisín Murphy?

226 replies

MarcTheGenderSkeptic · 20/09/2026 09:43

To her, I could add who in TV over Linehan, dance over Rosie Kay?
Sure, JKR is too big to be cancelled, but I didn't see any writers flock to her side.
I'm sure I've missed a few.
So, pressure put on Eddie Sheeran to drop Macklemore for his overtly political Free Palestine! chants, banners etc.
Hey, I may not share his politics, but I don't believe in censorship.
But as the wave of support comes in for him, and let's face it, this cancellation can only boost his career, I'm right now asking where was the wave of anti-censorship support for Róisín Murphy a few years back, when <her own record label!> cancelled her?
Macklemore walks into his next gig next week, his artist-activist credentials burnished, his opportunities to boost his career scaled up.
Róisín? She was at existential risk of career collapse.
Rosie Kay? Did the dance community in any meaningful way support her freedom to speak up? Highlight the iniquity of her losing the school shed sweated to build?
Linehan? Well, he really is a salutary lesson in the Age Of Scolding.
I know I've missed a few.
And of course multiples more women in lesser positions, cancelled from running maternity classes, as Green party candidates (I know one personally), from sports teams, etc etc, all of them invaluable in their fields, but cancelled or silenced via threat of cancellation.
So, while I see the Macklemore cancellation as poor in an apparently freedom-valuing West, I know this is in effect arbitrary. He isn't being dropped by his record label, all venues not touching him, activists working to bury him. If he ran a singing school, he wouldn't have it taken from him. If he was a writer for TV, he wouldn't have all opportunities for a decade denied him, true poison pen culture behind his back and to his face.
So I ask, why when Macklemore gets a prime gig cancelled, the whole arts/activist/Omnicause world lifts him up, yet when Róisín/Rosie/Graeme get cancelled, the rest of the mass bear down in them?
Of course, we all know the answer. I'm just finding I need to articulate what I see as a hypocritical world doubling down.

OP posts:
alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:58

MarieDeGournay · 20/09/2026 21:53

In what way has Róisín [note the correct spelling - 'Roisin' means something else altogether!] Murphy been anti-trans?
Please clarify, cos it's news to me!

Perhaps you could point out where I have said she was?

MarieDeGournay · 20/09/2026 21:53

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 20:14

Roisin Murphy's (former) fans are passionately pro-trans. Contrary to Mumsnet belief - people aren't actually required to continue supporting an artist they find objectionable. As she has now discovered. That isn't cancellation - that's free market choice. Just like the (failed) boycott of M&S - no-one is required to shop there because you disagree with their changing room situation.

In what way has Róisín [note the correct spelling - 'Roisin' means something else altogether!] Murphy been anti-trans?
Please clarify, cos it's news to me!

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:45

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:37

I've given you my reasoning. I've not mentioned what I think about any of it - just that I think businesses should be following the law - no matter how unpalatable I find the views mentioned.

I don’t think a black person should have to deal with that. Nor a Jewish person. It sounds last century when the same sort of gross characterisation was used.

AimsAndObjectives · 20/09/2026 21:44

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:38

The one where he's reading from an autocue? Nobody's mentioned the Nova Festival victims? Where on earth are you? It's literally all some people have been screaming about - while ignoring 21,000 CHILDREN's deaths.

She didn't say 'nobody'. She said 'no other major musician...'.

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:39

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:30

I think they booked Ed Sheeran?

Then how did they fire Macklemore? I don't think you understand how concert booking works...

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:38

halfpastten · 20/09/2026 21:32

If you watch the full video of what Ed Sheeran said at the start and end of his concert yesterday, I dont think anyone would call it a grovelling apology. I thought it was a fair and nuanced statement that mentioned both the 8 October atrocities, and in particular the Nova festival, which astonishingly no other major musician has mentioned, with concerns about disproportionate attacks on Gaza. The concert was clearly a success and Ed restored by the audiences response. I think he has come out of it well. I think it will prove to be a watershed moment. The bullies aren't as powerful as they thought they were.

The one where he's reading from an autocue? Nobody's mentioned the Nova Festival victims? Where on earth are you? It's literally all some people have been screaming about - while ignoring 21,000 CHILDREN's deaths.

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:37

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:26

So is that a yes? Can you be clear on whether a costume for black people along the same lines as below is ok?

I've given you my reasoning. I've not mentioned what I think about any of it - just that I think businesses should be following the law - no matter how unpalatable I find the views mentioned.

halfpastten · 20/09/2026 21:32

If you watch the full video of what Ed Sheeran said at the start and end of his concert yesterday, I dont think anyone would call it a grovelling apology. I thought it was a fair and nuanced statement that mentioned both the 8 October atrocities, and in particular the Nova festival, which astonishingly no other major musician has mentioned, with concerns about disproportionate attacks on Gaza. The concert was clearly a success and Ed restored by the audiences response. I think he has come out of it well. I think it will prove to be a watershed moment. The bullies aren't as powerful as they thought they were.

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:30

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:22

But they did... The costume was worn years before they literally platformed him. They only de-platformed him for speaking out on the genocide in Palestine.

I think they booked Ed Sheeran?

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:28

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:21

"Within the law".

Within the US the Heil Hitler song is not against the law due to freedom of speech rules, but was banned by many streaming platforms anyway. Do you disagree with that deplatforming?

Do you think that Jewish owners should be forced to let Kanye play in their venues if he says he won’t do the Heil Hitler song?

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:26

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:24

"Within the law".

So is that a yes? Can you be clear on whether a costume for black people along the same lines as below is ok?

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:24

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:22

Would you expect a black owner to put up with a grotesque characterisation of their ethnicity?

"Within the law".

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:24

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:15

Part of it was a history of antisemitic behaviour.

A history that they knew about before they hired him and platformed him? So it wasn't enough of an issue before that - only after he spoke out about the genocide. Sure.

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:22

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:17

Idk but you can’t use that kind of costume and expect the people you are attacking to platform you. The good thing is it’s not just people without agency, they can hit back.

But they did... The costume was worn years before they literally platformed him. They only de-platformed him for speaking out on the genocide in Palestine.

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:22

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

As long as it's within the law - no, I don't. You open up a business or service - then you operate within the law. Everything else is down to market forces. Macklemore shouldn't be discriminated against by those with the power to deplatform anymore than Roisin should.

Would you expect a black owner to put up with a grotesque characterisation of their ethnicity?

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:21

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:15

Black venue owners should be forced to host racist comedians? Jewish owners have to allow that Heil Hitler song?

"Within the law".

BackToLurk · 20/09/2026 21:20

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 20:56

Her Instagram... not all her dates sold out. Or is the argument now that she hasn't been cancelled and sold out every tour date? I can't keep up!

I don’t think you understand. Cancelled would indicate that third parties made the decision to drop her (for example the festival or being dropped from playlists), not necessarily that actual music fans stopped supporting her. There’s evidence of the former, but not the latter. She sold out Ally Pally and her last album was her most successful solo studio album. Trans activists tried to ruin her career and failed miserably. Fellow musicians, on the whole, failed to step up and defend her right to free speech. Hence the thread.

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:17

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

But that wasn't the reason, was it?

Idk but you can’t use that kind of costume and expect the people you are attacking to platform you. The good thing is it’s not just people without agency, they can hit back.

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:15

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

But that wasn't the reason, was it?

Part of it was a history of antisemitic behaviour.

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:15

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

As long as it's within the law - no, I don't. You open up a business or service - then you operate within the law. Everything else is down to market forces. Macklemore shouldn't be discriminated against by those with the power to deplatform anymore than Roisin should.

Black venue owners should be forced to host racist comedians? Jewish owners have to allow that Heil Hitler song?

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:11

Tbf if I saw someone using a grotesque mask of my ethnicity (or sex) I’d not be keen to give them a stage either.

Edited

But that wasn't the reason, was it?

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:11

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:08

You think that any venue owner should have no choice over who they allow to perform in their venue? None at all?

As long as it's within the law - no, I don't. You open up a business or service - then you operate within the law. Everything else is down to market forces. Macklemore shouldn't be discriminated against by those with the power to deplatform anymore than Roisin should.

EasternStandard · 20/09/2026 21:11

Tbf if I saw someone using a grotesque mask of my ethnicity (or sex) I’d not be keen to give them a stage either.

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:09

moto748e · 20/09/2026 21:06

You can't see the difference in Macklemore being literally de-platformed for the expression of his views by the billionaire owners of venues ?

Macklemore has not been de-platformed, On the contrary, this affair is probably the best thing that's happened to his career.

He literally had his platform (the stage) removed. That isn't in question.

noblegiraffe · 20/09/2026 21:08

alcovecupboards · 20/09/2026 21:05

If it's a publicly-available event - any size. Or are you arguing that venue-owners should be able to ban GC events because they disagree with them?

You think that any venue owner should have no choice over who they allow to perform in their venue? None at all?