Lambrini Girls hit back at Graham Linehan over anti-trans comments

Lambrini Girls have criticised Graham Linehan for accusing them of “supporting sterilising children” by speaking out for trans rights.

The Brighton punk duo have been vocal in their support for trans inclusivity and their recent EP ‘You’re Welcome’ features a song, ‘Terf Wars’, condemning transphobia.

Linehan, meanwhile, has become known in recent years for perpetrating anti-trans sentiments, claiming his views have cost him his career and image. In 2018, he was issued with a verbal harassment warning by police after he was involved in an online row with a transgender activist.

Lambrini Girls performed at Iggy Pop‘s ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ show at London’s Crystal Palace Park yesterday (July 1), during which they projected trans-inclusive messages onto the video wall behind them, including ‘Trans lives fucking matter’ and ‘Stop dead-naming your kids’.

In response to their label, Big Scary Monsters, sharing a photo of the moment, the Father Ted creator replied with an image reading: “Start thinking of an excuse why you supported sterilising children,” tagging the band.

Hey @Lambrini_Girls pic.twitter.com/kiqk4JxYjF

— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) July 2, 2023

The band replied: “A disappointing example of a powerful industry head terrified of authentic self expression. He would rather attack individuals trying to affirm it then address their own prejudice. Oh boo boo Graham Linehan you’ve got to shit on others in order to stay relevant. Suck my balls.”

A disappointing example of a powerful industry head terrified of authentic self expression. He would rather attack individuals trying to affirm it then address their own prejudice. Oh boo boo Graham Linehan you’ve got to shit on others in order to stay relevant. Suck my balls. https://t.co/gKAQd621jB

— Lambrini Girls (@Lambrini_Girls) July 2, 2023

They also replied personally to Linehan. “if we’re playing the ‘what about the children’ card, here’s a statistic: Su*c*de is the highest among transgender youth amongst any other youth group- because of hate from people like you and the fact they can’t access vital gender affirming surgery. Children are dying,” they wrote.

“What is it about the support [of] authentic self expression from minority groups scares you? How does that affect your life in any way? You people aren’t Martyrs- you are literally the problem. Queers aren’t the extremists here- you are.”

if we’re playing the ‘what about the children’ card, here’s a statistic: Su*c*de is the highest among transgender youth amongst any other youth group- because of hate from people like you and the fact they can’t access vital gender affirming surgery. Children are dying

— Lambrini Girls (@Lambrini_Girls) July 2, 2023

What is it about the support authentic self expression from minority groups scares you? How does that affect your life in any way? You people aren’t Martyrs- you are literally the problem. Queers aren’t the extremists here- you are.

— Lambrini Girls (@Lambrini_Girls) July 2, 2023

The band added in a separate tweet that Linehan’s comments weren’t the only backlash they’d had from the anti-trans movement. “The fact that so many TERFS are coming for us right now- if we weren’t pissing them off, then we wouldn’t be doing our job right would we eh,” they wrote.

The fact that so many TERFS are coming for us right now- if we weren’t pissing them off, then we wouldn’t be doing our job right would we eh

— Lambrini Girls (@Lambrini_Girls) July 2, 2023

In an interview for NME Radar earlier this year, vocalist Phoebe Lunny said: “Punk in itself was about inciting positive change, but now, it is literally about fucking men stomping around on stage singing about capitalism, when they all come from fucking five-bedroom houses in Surrey. If you do not get yourselves into these spaces and actually call people out on this fucking bullshit or just try to teach someone a fucking lesson, then it’s not going to change.”