Dame Edna says ‘transphobic’ comments ‘got taken the wrong way’

‘Nothing has been more grotesquely interpreted’

(Getty Images)

Australian comedian Barry Humphries has denied ever making transphobic comments.

The 85-year-old who is best known for his alter ego Dame Edna Everage was criticised in 2016 for concurring with Germaine Greer that transgender women are men “who believe that they are women and have themselves castrated”.

“You’re a mutilated man that’s all,” Humphries told The Daily Telegraph. “Self-mutilation, what’s all this carry on? Caitlyn Jenner – what a publicity-seeking ratbag.”

His comments prompted calls for Humphries to be sacked from his BBC Radio 2 show, with transgender actor Rebecca Root describing his remark as “very retrograde”.

Now, speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, Humphries argued that his words had been “grotesquely interpreted”.

“Edna carefully said she thought that men who had themselves castrated did not become women, and that got taken the wrong way,” he told the publication before describing political correctness as “the new puritanism”.

Humphries faced similar criticisms in 2018 after he called “transgenderism” a “fashion” in an interview with The Spectator.

“How many different kinds of lavatory can you have? And it’s pretty evil when it’s preached to children by crazy teachers,” he added.

The comedian also recalled the outrage caused by his previous comments about gender-reassignment surgery.

“That aroused a lot of indignation — probably among the people who’d spent a lot of money having it done,” he said. “But I don’t think I’m right to pontificate. I’m really an actor.”

Humphries was asked to comment on the fact that trans activists think transphobia should be legally classed as assault in light of a stat that claims 40 per cent of transgender people have attempted or considered suicide.

“Terribly rat-baggery,” he said.

Once again, the remarks prompted people to call for Humphries to retire.

Comedian Hannah Gadsby called Humphries an “inhumane d*** biscuit of the highest order” while others described him as “irrelevant” and “dangerous”.