Comic writer Graham Linehan’s arrest by British police has drawn sharp criticism from the US State Department, which says the move signals a worrying shift away from democratic freedoms in the UK and across Europe.
The 57-year-old comedy writer was detained at Heathrow Airport by armed officers after returning from a trip to the United States, questioned over three controversial posts he shared on X.
The posts, which involved criticisms of transgender ideology, have caused public outrage over the expanding reach of British speech laws.
Reacting to the incident, a US State Department spokesperson warned The Telegraph that such actions reflect a broader crackdown on expression in countries that claim to uphold liberal democratic values. “The United States believes that protecting freedom of expression is critical to any democratic, self-governing nation – this includes protecting voices that challenge the status quo or the government.”
Linehan, best known for co-creating the TV series Father Ted, said he was treated “like a terrorist” and held in a cell for half a day. His detention followed a string of posts, one of which urged people to take action if a trans-identified male entered a women-only space. Another mocked a Pride march, and a third expressed open hostility toward trans activists.
US officials rejected the idea that Linehan’s statements justified arrest. “This speech is neither ‘threat’ nor ‘violence’ but the basis for democratic governance in free societies,” the spokesperson added.
The arrest is only the latest sign of growing friction between Washington and its closest allies over the tightening of speech laws. Much of the concern centers around legislation like the UK’s Online Harms Bill, which allows authorities to penalize content deemed harmful or offensive, even when no law has been broken.
“Vague prohibitions against ‘grossly offensive’ or ‘harmful’ content are overly broad and restrict protected expression, including political, religious, and civic speech,” the US State Department noted.
Hounded out of Britain for believing that biological sex is real, Graham Linehan has fled to Arizona and is now seeking asylum in the US as a “free speech refugee”. The Mailhas the story.
Earlier this week… he was dramatically arrested by five armed police officers at Heathrow and treated like ‘a terrorist’ hauled off to a cell. His crime? For three social media posts while living in the US.
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Linehan posted these three tweets in April for which he was arrested
Irish-born Linehan, 57, who spent 30 years living in the UK, was returning… to face trial after being accused of harassing a transgender woman with abusive comments and damaging her phone.
The comedy genius [behind] IT Crowd, Black Books and Motherland, was flying back from Arizona where he has made a new life for the past six months.
He has formed a production company, Friendly Fire, with former Saturday Night Live star Rob Schneider and Northern Irish playwright and journalist Andrew Doyle, and filming on their new comedy called Tenure is set to begin within weeks.
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Republican Schneider, who once played Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo in the 1999 film of the same name, is something of a kindred spirit with Linehan when it comes to their transgender views.
In 2023 he clashed with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney, calling her transgender identity “cultural appropriation”.
Schneider this week revealed that Linehan has hired MAGA lawyer Aaron Siri over the asylum bid to appeal to President Donald Trump.
After Linehan’s arrest Schneider announced on X: “This morning, our attorney at Friendly Fire Studio, @AaroSiriSG, will ask the Trump Administration to give Asylum to Graham Linehan as a UNITED KINGDOM FREE SPEECH REFUGEE.”
It is not clear which visa Linehan could be granted, or if the Trump administration would give him a green card, which allows for permanent residency.
However, Donald Trump has prioritised resettlement to the US for groups he considers marginalised, including white Afrikaners from South Africa who he claimed were being subjected to “genocide” back home.
The lawyer Linehan has turned to Siri is a vaccine sceptic who works closely with US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. …
Siri said this week that he was “confident he (Linehan) will be able to flee the persecution” in the UK.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Siri said: “We have been in contact with Mr Linehan. We have a robust immigration practice at the firm. We are confident he will be able to immigrate to the United States and flee the persecution and abject infringement of his fundamental right to free speech.”
Siri also took aim at Britain’s record when it came to free speech.
He said: “The UK’s increasing disregard for this fundamental right is disturbing. The UK is already ranked as more illiberal than Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay when it comes to free speech, and is on the fast track to becoming less liberal in permitting speech than Tunisia or Iran.”
Amid a growing backlash, his supporters are calling for a new “Linehan’s Law” to ensure no British citizen “is ever arrested, silenced or gagged for expressing lawful speech”. …
On working in the US, he said: “Oh, it’s like being able to breathe for years of being suffocated.
“I realised quite late on is that I wasn’t just expelled out of comedy, I was expelled out of the middle classes. The middle classes did not like me upsetting their dinner party conversation, so they rejected me like an owl rejecting a pellet.
“The UK is almost impossible for someone like me to live in. You cannot tell the truth without the police coming to your door.”
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