00:00A sitcom writer says he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport this week, allegedly over posts he made on X.
00:09Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan says five armed officers approached him when he stepped off his flight from the United States.
00:17When he saw the cops at first, he says he laughed. Then they began reading him his rights.
00:22At the Heathrow Police Station, his belt, bag and devices were taken and officers placed him into a cell with a bed and small toilet.
00:31They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets, Linehan wrote on his Substack page.
00:38In a country where pedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak,
00:47The state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet. And no, I promise you, I am not making this up.
00:55He claims his following X posts are what the officers interviewed him about.
00:59On April 19th, 2025, he posted an aerial shot of what appears to be a rally and several people holding the trans flag.
01:07Linehan wrote a photo you can smell and then a follow up post to that, quote, I hate them, misogynists and homophobes, expletive them.
01:17And then the next day, April 20th, he posted, if a trans identified male is in a female only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act.
01:26Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls, end quote.
01:31During the police interview, officers questioned Linehan about each of the three X posts, quote,
01:36With a sort of earnest intensity usually reserved for discussing something serious like, oh, I don't know, crime, he wrote on his sub stack.
01:45He told them the punch post was a joke about the difference in height between men and women and certainly not a call for violence.
01:52Linehan said a nurse eventually checked on him during that interview and found that his blood pressure was over 200.
01:58He was taken to the hospital and placed under observation.
02:02He said the only condition of his bail is to stay off X.
02:05Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been defending Linehan since news of his arrest broke.
02:10What the expletive has the U.K. become?
02:13This is totalitarianism, utterly deplorable, Rowling wrote in a post on X.
02:18According to the BBC, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson was asked about Linehan's arrest, calling it an operational matter for the police.
02:26But the prime minister and home secretary have been clear about where their priorities for crime and policing are,
02:32and that's tackling antisocial behavior, shoplifting, street crime, as well as reducing serious violent crimes like knife crime and violence against women, the spokesperson said.
02:43For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan.
02:45If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com.
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