Father Ted co-creator, Graham Linehan, has been charged with harassment. The allegations are reportedly related to an incident at the Battle of Ideas conference in London in October
Father Ted co-creator, Graham Linehan, has pled not guilty to harassing a transgender woman and damaging her phone.
The Irish comedy writer, 56, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday to deny the charges of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging her mobile in October.
Linehan, who shot to fame with the iconic Channel 4 show, previously wrote on social media that the charges were related to an incident at the Battle of Ideas conference in London in October.
Court documents show Linehan is charged with harassing the alleged victim by posting abusive comments about her on social media between October 11 and October 27, and damaging her phone to the value of £369 on the day of the conference.
Seen arriving at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Linehan, made no comment as he made his way past the cameras, dressed in a sharp suit and tie. In a post on X in April, he claimed that the charges related to a complaint from a trans activist. In 2023, he recalled in his book titled Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy, that he lost his comedy career after he “championed an unfashionable cause”.
Following the charges of harassment without violence and criminal damage, Linehan told the Mirror : “This is part of a long history of the police acting as a goon squad for trans rights activists.”
He went on to make a number of allegations about the alleged victim, adding that he looked forward to ‘exposing him and them in court’.
The Bafta-winning writer, who also came up with TV sitcoms The IT Crowd and Black Books, has become a strong vocal critic of the trans rights movement in recent years.
He has previously claimed that his career and marriage have been destroyed over his gender-critical views.
Linehan, who was born in Dublin and survived cancer in 2018, has also said he had lost his career, family and friends after getting caught up in the trans debate.
He has won a lifetime achievement award and penned a memoir, Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy, which was published in October 2023 and reached number ten on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
A CPS spokesperson said in April: “Graham Linehan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court for a first hearing to face charges of harassment without violence and criminal damage on 12 May.”
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