![\"R\u00f3is\u00edn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4ff50e7f-89db-4548-b70a-5577d6be0c18.jpg\")
Murphy performing in Milan in 2023Sergione Infuso\/Getty images<\/p>\n
The prescribing to under-18s of puberty-blocking drugs has since been banned by the government. But at the time Murphy\u2019s leaked comments attracted an angry response on social media and even led to claims she had been dropped from the BBC Radio 6 programming schedule<\/a>, which the station denied.<\/p>\n The singer was previously the frontwoman of the band Moloko but has since released a series of acclaimed solo albums.<\/p>\n \u2018Condemnation and professional exile\u2019<\/p>\n Giving a speech on Monday at a parliamentary event to raise awareness of the rise of cancel culture in the arts, she said: \u201cWhen artists speak plainly these days, especially on radioactive issues, they don\u2019t get debate.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get condemnation and professional exile. I\u2019ve lived it when I spoke my mind about puberty blockers and current social trends around gender.<\/p>\n \u201cI watched the machinery kick in fast. Pressure to recant, threats to pull promotion, leads to the press, venues dropping bookings, colleagues stepping back. The message was clear \u2014 conform or risk your livelihood.<\/p>\n \u201cI fought for my work. I took back ownership of my music. But the wider chill remains.\u201d<\/p>\n Telling of the personal toll of the treatment she received after opposing puberty blockers, Murphy added: \u201cBeing cancelled is hard. The world goes very dark very quickly.<\/p>\n \u2018Bitter pill\u2019 of sudden isolation<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone and anyone who is ever going to disappoint you does so all at once.<\/p>\n \u201cNetworks of interwoven friendship and career that took years to grow collapse overnight. All the hypocrisy, frailty and hidden disloyalty gets exposed at once.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bewildering and it\u2019s a bitter pill.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy went on to detail how entering a public debate, \u201cas a woman in her fifties with a black mark against my name\u201d, invited attacks not only on her work and morality but also on her age and appearance.<\/p>\n Ireland newsletter<\/p>\n Our best in-depth reads, exclusive features, news and a note from our editors in Ireland.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSign up with one click<\/p>\n A \u2018wave of boycotts\u2019<\/p>\n She was speaking at the launch of a report entitled \u201cThe New Boycott Crisis\u201d, written by Rosie Kay, from the campaign group Freedom in the Arts, and Professor Jo Phoenix.<\/p>\n According to the report, Jewish artists have faced a \u201cwave of boycotts\u201d<\/a> after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza<\/a>, while artists expressing critical views on transgender issues have experienced a similar exclusion.<\/p>\n Murphy warned in her speech that this culture of \u201ccancellation\u201d was increasingly leading artists to self-censor.<\/p>\n In contrast, she added: \u201cMeanwhile, a noisy minority, often very confused young people caught in cycles of pornography and niche online communities, have made themselves the social media enforcers.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall groups with multiple accounts can trigger the cancellation of events and whole careers.\u201d<\/p>\n Graham Linehan \u2018vindicated\u2019<\/p>\n Murphy was joined at the Westminster event by Jewish musicians who told of being cancelled and Mark Tughan, the head of a chain of stand-up venues, known as the Glee Club, who spoke of the comedy sector\u2019s brushes with cancel culture.<\/p>\n![\"Roisin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/76d5602c-daed-4bb1-9891-d4aebd70e07b.jpg\")
Murphy and Rosie Kay at the report\u2019s launch<\/p>\n