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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

What has Stewart Lee done?

445 replies

concernedfriend500 · 04/01/2022 08:49

I see lots of people on Twitter are slagging off Stewart Lee because he listed a lot of non-woke folk like Graham Linehan in his "pedal bin" of people he doesn't like. What is his public stance on the Trans Rights campaign though? I've not heard/read anything but I've probably missed it.

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InspiralCoalescenceRingdown · 04/01/2022 10:52

I got linked to Lee's list due to somebody else being on it, for a presumably different reason. The first thing I thought of was Father Noel Furlong's list of enemies, before I saw that Glinner was on the list.

Random sections are red, which I wrongly thought were hyperlinks at first. It reminded me of that time cube guy's website.

But the most notable thing is the list is huge.

It doesn't actually explain why anyone's on it (some people seem to be because they made a passing critical comment about Lee on Twitter one time).

The whole thing is utterly bizarre.

RoyalCorgi · 04/01/2022 10:55

I feel more disappointed about Lee and, to some extent Christie, than almost anyone. I've always found him very funny and I do think a large part of his act is self-mockery - setting himself up as a clever-arse who looks down on other comedians. I also loved Jerry Springer the Opera. Lee really paid the price for exercising his free speech: the campaign against it by right-wing Christian groups meant he ended up not making very much money out of it.

What I find hard to understand is that he doesn't seem to have grasped what's going on. Take his attacks on Gervais. Gervais makes fun of people like Kaitlyn Jenner which isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, punching down. Does Lee really think it is?

And surely he can't have missed the absolutely vicious attacks on women by trans activists: the death threats, the rape threats, the pornography tweeted at JK Rowling, the physical assaults on Maria Maclachlan and others? Women losing their jobs and contracts because activists have reported them to their employers?

You would think that someone whose right to free speech came under attack as aggressively as his did would think twice before supporting a group of activists who want to silence dissent.

And yet when I look at Christie's comment about letting trans people use the toilets, I wonder if either of them have understood that this isn't really about toilets? It's about hospital wards, rape crisis centres, domestic violence refuges, sports, prisons, mammograms, care homes...

But you could only miss all that if you were making a concerted attempt not to notice it.

SameToo · 04/01/2022 11:00

My husband likes SL. Makes me think less of my husband as all I can see is a pretentious, unfunny arsehole.

Clymene · 04/01/2022 11:03

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dittymcdit · 04/01/2022 11:16

@NettleTea

I used to like Stewart Lee and Richard Herring when they worked together. As time has gone on I have liked one less and less, and the other more and more.

Richard Herring is great

Richard Herring is indeed fabulous.

I imagine SL will read this thread. And his takeaway will be that we are all transphobic Pearl-clutchers aren't intelligent or left wing enough to understand his comedy Hmm

dittymcdit · 04/01/2022 11:18

@Omicrone

Stewart Lee is cut from the same cloth as Billy Bragg and thinks that because he is 'of the left' he is just an all round brilliant bloke.

I actually have tickets to go and see him later this year with DH so will be interested to see if this comes up in his show!

I'm so sad about Billy Bragg. Love him and love his music but he's chosen to be utterly deaf on this issue.
Beamur · 04/01/2022 11:18

but you could only miss all that if you were making a concerted attempt not to notice it
Presumably he's picked a 'side' and that's where it ends. He's a smart chap, he'll know there's more to all of these issues, but that's not his agenda. I just hope there's enough ticket buying people still sharing his views to cover the childcare costs..

BriocheForBreakfast · 04/01/2022 11:20

@AnyFucker

God, is he reliving his schooldays or something ?

How embarrassing

Quite. My DD used to write endless lists in sparkly gel pen when she was about 11/12.
sheroku · 04/01/2022 12:33

If he gets enough criticism for this list maybe he'll add "Stewart Lee is a fugly slut" on the end and pretend someone else wrote it.

IvyTwines · 04/01/2022 12:39

He's not smart, deep or thoughtful, for all the long-windedness of his shows. His take on Brexit was that Leave voters are either 'racists' or 'cunts'. He's supposedly on the Left but it seems he has never bothered to ask himself why so many on the Left dislike the EU and the impact of Globalisation, including the late Tony Benn, many in the Corbyn wing, Northern Labour voters from working class former industrial areas and even his 'pedestal' hero Owen Jones, who used to talk about 'Lexit' a lot in the Guardian, a paper Lee clearly relies on (entirely?) for his news and opinions, but where the Economics editor is still 'Lexit' for Left-wing reasons.

Similarly, he hasn't bothered to think about why so many intelligent, thoughtful and caring women and men on the Left, including those active against Section 28 in what would have been Lee's student days too, and who actually helped found Stonewall, are concerned about trans activist demands and their deeply misogynistic language, the impact of social media on a generation of youngsters, the vast amounts of money being made by big business from turning these teenagers into lifelong medical customers so they can fit into regressive stereotypes, the loss of women's safe spaces, so many other complexities that you'd think someone on the Left would at least take the time to explore and question, but no.

KittenKong · 04/01/2022 12:55

@Sophoclesthefox

And yes, handsoff, he is no fan of Mumsnet, which he clearly feels is full of silly wittering stupid middle class mummies, and has featured as a lazy sexist punchline in his routine.
Was that it? I know he hacked me off last summer (?) and seemed to remember it was something like bitching about MN or using the T word. Something pathetic anyway.

DH said that he was probably just trying to be provocative and edgy. I think he is just a bit of a stale, boring old fart (and I’ve seen him a few times too - never again though). Hope his ‘new audience’ make up for all the missing ticket sales (lots of people are saying ‘get lost’).

And of course if he does get a new audience, they won’t be an easy crowd to entertain. I got the impression at his gigs that there was a fair amount lot of ‘goodwill’ from the audience - people wanted to like him and laughed even when his jokes fell flat. His new buddies will be screaming abuse and picketing the venues (plus the inevitable death threats) if he doesn’t make the whole set about stroking them.

Good luck…

KittenKong · 04/01/2022 12:57

And I have a running joke that I have ‘a list’ of people that I will take revenge on when I win the lottery.

Of course I don’t and I don’t even do the lottery, but it’s a silly joke that I only share with my immediate family.

HandsOffMyRights · 04/01/2022 13:02

Kitten yes, MN was an easy target for him. An homogeneous group of transphobes who don't like mixed 'gender' toilets because we're thick as mince, apparently. The woke bros in the mainly male audience lapped it up. A room of penises laughing at women.

In contrast, saw Ben Elton live two years ago. He gets it.

HandsOffMyRights · 04/01/2022 13:04

Sorry, 'A' homogeneous. I'm clearly not educated to Lee's standards....

KittenKong · 04/01/2022 13:14

His he does like to bang on about his uni days doesn’t he?

BraveBananaBadge · 04/01/2022 13:23

The first thing I thought of was Father Noel Furlong's list of enemies

Grin
xxyzz · 04/01/2022 13:34

On his pedestal he had Ash Sarkar, Ken Loach on Owen Jones, all known for being popular with Corbynistas because all three either have a history of being antisemitic themselves or are supportive of those who are.

As always, support for 'woke' antisemites goes hand in hand with attacks on those who support women's rights, like Glinner, Gervais etc.

It's no accident that before JKR hit the headlines for standing up for women's rights, she was hitting the headlines for standing with Jews against the antisemitism Corbyn introduced to Labour. Corbynites hate her for that.

Abhannmor · 04/01/2022 13:36

Never understood the appeal of Stewart Lee. Vulgar abuse dressed up as lacerating wit. If he is funny then so is Donald Trump.

TheAbbotOfUnreason · 04/01/2022 13:37

Random sections are red, which I wrongly thought were hyperlinks at first. It reminded me of that time cube guy's website.

I wondered if the names in red were late additions - like Maureen Lipman speaking about cancel culture in December (unless she’d done something else to bring down the Wrath of the Righteous One upon her?).

Phrenologistsfinger · 04/01/2022 13:45

In the legal world JM is well known to be a massive misogynist (directly heard from women who have worked with him).

Oh well, used to like Stewart Lee but no more after this. What a dick.

ArtemesiaK · 04/01/2022 13:46

This popped up on my phone today. Graham is described as anti-transgender and as having been banned from Twitter for making transphobic comments. No "allegedly" or"perceived".... www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/refugee-charity-praised-amid-one-of-2022s-first-twitter-sto-260094/
You can read the comments though, which are generally unsupportive of Lee.... :)

SpindleyCrow · 04/01/2022 13:57

Well, if this isn't an attempt at a clever ironic statement, I'd say that Stewart Lee may be in the midst of some sort of breakdown.

KittenKong · 04/01/2022 14:00

No he generally has a bit of a rant about other performers in his sets. Like a drink uncle at a family wedding.

Clymene · 04/01/2022 14:04

For someone who read English at Oxford he can't spell (Ask Sarker anyone?) and is fond of a grocer's apostrophe (GP's are on his pedestal list).

I suspect he and Bridget host jolly north London dinner parties for LOJ and chums

PenguindreamsofDraco · 04/01/2022 14:08

@Phrenologistsfinger

In the legal world JM is well known to be a massive misogynist (directly heard from women who have worked with him).

Oh well, used to like Stewart Lee but no more after this. What a dick.

I think his misogyny is just a reflection of thinking everyone is less intelligent than him. I'm not sure he necessarily differentiates. And how would he know if the people he looks down on are men or women without inspecting their pants anyway Wink

A mate of mine in his old set said once that there were few if any subjects where JM didn't think they'd all benefit from his input, which I think says it all. To be regarded as insufferable arrogant by a load of barristers is... quite something Grin