Eddie Izzard interview with Salon

[ArabellaScott]

I've not watched the whole thing, but just landed on:

'we know that, that, in the fetus, everyone's a girl in the fetus'

Indeed.

Eddie wants male privilege and to be treated as a man if it benefits him.

He wants attention more than anything.

I doubt he's in 'girl mode' for any of those auditions.

I was amused that the interviewer asked Eddie how he keeps impressing and amazing himself, because he really is pleased with himself! Notice how he finds opportunities to boast instead of just answering the questions. eg mentioning the reviews for his one-man GE show and then answering a question about where he is starting his tour by rambling on about being the only comedian to have played all the US States and how many countries he’s toured and how many languages he performs in. We get it Eddie, you think you’re fucking amazing. Well lots of us don’t.

I loved him in the 90s but he’s a massive disappointment now. Absolute bollocks that he ‘came out’ in the 80s. He wore women’s clothes and said he was a transvestite. Fine. What he is now saying he is is something completely different.

Is a man when it comes to lucrative acting roles and a woman when it comes to running marathons. Funny that.

I believe that he is what Australians would call a figjam. Fuck I'm Good. Just Ask Me.

My views are in the fuzzy middle, I considered him funny and interesting. Particularly the nonconforming clothes etc part. I felt ... odd ... reading about what was possibly a "coming out" piece by or about him in the Guardian. It's jarring with my hazy ancient memories of how he described himself.

I think how he sees himself alone isn't a big deal, certainly compared to the behaviour described wrt to toilet use. It's one thing to behave the way he does privately, it's horrible but it's reach is limited. It's a level beyond to broadcast the behaviour as a famous person in the middle of a hotly contested and bitterly fought national conversation about trans issues, and the unrelated but horrible stories about male violence & abuse towards women. No view should ever ignore or minimise that second issue. There's already a middle ground, gender neutral toilets. I don't really want to get drawn into the pros/cons etc, just mentioning them to highlight there is at least one other alternative position for him to take and advocate for.

Has he ever been in an interview that's challenged him on his behaviour towards those teenagers?

Is there some link to a performance or interview covering that toilet scenario?

I think every time Eddie uses the word ‘girl’ - ‘girl foetus’, ‘girl mode’ - etc, someone should pinch one of his balls.

Yes. I wasn’t intending to underplay that part, but you are correct. He tried to paint himself as a victim in what was presumably supposed to be an amusing story, but which horrified a lot of people.

It’s clear from that story that his ideas about women and their rights have always been eye-openingly wide of the mark. Whether he was self-aware enough to hide it earlier, but has now lost that self-awareness, or whether it just never came up in public earlier is an unanswerable question.

It did reveal though, that his current stance cannot be entirely laid at the door of a moment of middle-aged madness, but rather has always been in the pipeline, and has been revealed now because the time has come when he believes he can get away with stuff he probably always wanted, but resisted before because it was socially unacceptable.

He mentions his mum dying when he was young. Do people think this is significant in his preoccupation with what it might be like to be an adult woman? Perhaps he feels closer to her by emulating what she might have been like?

I don't think for a second it excuses any of his bad choices. I'm just interested in this aspect. Especially as it's something he talks about a lot.

I think every time Eddie uses the word ‘girl’ - ‘girl foetus’, ‘girl mode’ - etc, someone should pinch one of his balls.

This made me laugh. What would he complain about? As a girl he hasn't got any balls so he couldn't feel pain in them.

It was sad that he lost his mum at a young age. I always felt sorry for him for that. I never knew he had a brother, though, and had got the impression he was an only child. (My misapprehension though.)

I can't help wondering what would happen if Eddie woke up one morning in girl mode while he was filming as himself (a man). Would filming have to stop until he was in boy mode again? Or would be a man acting as a woman acting as a man?

Obviously, I think I know the answer to this one. He strides in as Eddie the man every day, does his job, trousers the big wad of cash and poor old Susie doesn't get a look in until he needs a bit of attention and adoration. He really does have his cake and eats it too.

I can't remember his exact words but he has said that a lot of what he does is an attempt to 'bring back' his mother.
It's very sad,the way she died must have been so confusing for a child of that age.

Who the fuck 'assigns' the foetus? God? It's like the enlightenment never happened to be honest.

Yes, I think a lot of these people just use "assigned female at birth" as a shorthand for "female sex". Some fool did it on a thread here the other day. It's particularly facepalm worthy when they use it about foetuses.

I can't help wondering what would happen if he woke up one morning and actually was a woman. With a lighter voice that gets ignored, a softer, weaker body that can't shove and threaten people who disagree with him, chronic period cramps and achy breasts, a life time of conditioning to be nice, step aside, be invisible, accommodate. I wonder how long he would last.

When I saw the first line of Tessisme’s post preview in TIO, that’s exactly the question that came to my mind. Izzard’s choosy-choice approach puts me in mind of Jenner continuing to exert male privilege by playing golf at Jenner’s male only golf club.

What an absolute bellend! I can stomach watching the interview.

RedToothBrush · Yesterday 10:43

He wasn't just abusive to them. He vilified the teenage girls.

I lost all respect and liking for him, after reading his article whining about the horrid teenaged girls, who shouted at him for being in the women's toilets. The brass neck on him for claiming victimhood in the scenario.

It just confirmed how utterly self-absorbed he is. How very cliched entitled white male his behaviour was in that scenario, demanding everything should be how he wants it and women and girls should kowtow to his demands. As blokey as it gets. Yawn, Eddie.