Fans supported my attack on puberty blockers, says Roisin Murphy

ROISIN MURPHY has insisted the majority of her fans supported her after she voiced concerns about “vulnerable” and “mixed-up kids” being prescribed puberty blockers.

The singer was criticised on social media and had two London gigs cancelled in August when she wrote on her

Facebook page: “Puberty blockers are f---ed, absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true.”

Puberty blockers pause the physical changes of puberty and are used by those wishing to change their gender. The NHS announced in March that children will be banned from receiving puberty blockers on prescription and can only take them as part of a clinical trial set to start at the end of this year.

The BBC had faced accusations it had “cancelled” Murphy after a day of programming on her back catalogue was wiped from the Radio 6 schedule in the wake of her comments. Archive interviews and highlights from her live shows had been due to air on Sept 26 following the release of her album, but these were replaced by a selection of appearances by rapper Little Simz.

The BBC denied the accusations and said the decision had been taken to align with poetry, rap and spoken word programming airing in the same week.

Last week, in an interview with France 24 English, a Paris-based TV news network, she said her fans’ reaction to her comments “wasn’t that bad”.

She said: “The internet was not that bad. I didn’t get these death threats or anything like that. I got lots of support. I had three or four people ask for tickets back. So it really wasn’t terribly bad.

“I don’t think what I said was seen as massively, massively difficult, you know, for people to understand where I was coming from, at the very least.”

The singer later apologised for her comments in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “To witness the ramifications of my actions and the divisions it has caused is heartbreaking. I am so sorry my comments have been directly hurtful to many of you … I understand fixed views are not helpful but I really hope people can understand my concern was out of love for all of us.”