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Jess Glynne criticised for using offensive slur in Mo Gilligan podcast

Singer was condemned for using the outdated slur in an interview that appears to have been removed from the comedian’s channels

Roisin O'Connor
Monday 08 March 2021 10:26 GMT
Jess Glynne uses offensive slur during Mo Gilligan interview

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Singer Jess Glynne has come under fire after an interview with comedian Mo Gilligan showed her using an offensive slur about trans people.

A clip was widely shared on social media, apparently taken from The Mo Gilligan Podcast.

In it, Glynne discusses a trip to a “tranny strip club thing”, as Gilligan laughs along.

After the clip surfaced, a number of people criticised Glynne for her choice of words.

“As the owner of a ‘tranny strip club’, I’d ask Jess Glynne not to use slurs to describe us or call us ‘men in wigs’,” Lucia Blayke wrote on Twitter, in a post that has received more than 2,000 likes.

“In fact, just leave us out of your funny anecdotes, we are not a laughing stock, we are human beings.”

Writer Grace Medford tweeted: “There was absolutely no reason for that jess glynne clip to ever see the light of day, the number of people it will have gone thru to make it into the world... there is just no care for protecting people from bulls*** and I hate it here!”

“The Jess Glynne video is double trash,” another person said. “There’s the slur of course - and the punchline of the whole story in which she uses the slur is that she takes a (presumably) straight/homophobic man to a queer safe space and how funny it is for her to see his reaction.”

“Not Jess Glynne dropping the t slur in 2021... as if she's not a self-proclaimed bisexual and as if she's completely missed the trans culture war going on... where u been sis?” one person wrote.

Glynne came out as bisexual in 2016, but has since avoided using labels, explaining she doesn’t want put herself “in a box” when it comes to her sexuality.

“A slur that rolls out as easily as it did suggests that #JessGlynne doesn’t consider the t word a slur at all. The way it’s such an outdated term being used by someone within the lgbt community is a massive shame,” another said.

Several others called out Gilligan for apparently failing to challenge Glynne for using the slur.

The full podcast episode, which was uploaded on Friday 5 March, appears to have been removed from streaming services including Spotify, PlayFM and Apple Podcasts.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Glynne and Gilligan for comment.

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