“The IT Crowd” creator Graham Linehan has said he was arrested by cops in the UK over three “anti-trans” social media posts shortly after arriving at London Heathrow Airport.
The Irish comedy writer, who was flying to Britain on an American Airlines flight from Arizona, accused police of treating him like a “terrorist” when they detained him moments after he stepped off the plane on Monday.
Linehan, 57, who has become a strident critic of the transgender rights movement, said he was escorted to a private area where he was told he was under arrest “for three tweets” by officers of the Metropolitan Police.
“The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not one, not two — five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets,” wrote Linehan on his Substack blog.
Linehan reshared the three offending posts, posted on X in the space of two days in April this year.
One, which showed a picture of a trans rights rally with the caption, “A photo you can smell,” was made on April 19.
That same day, he also posted, “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F–k em.”
On April 20, he wrote, “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
After his arrest, Linehan said he had to be taken by police to the hospital due to the stress, where his blood pressure spiked to dangerous levels.
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Linehan, who created a number of popular sitcoms in the UK and Ireland, including “Father Ted,” “Black Books” and “The IT Crowd,” said he had been “arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online.”
The Met Police did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the force said, “On Monday, 1 September at 13:00hrs officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.
“The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.
“The arrest was made by officers from the MPS Aviation Unit. It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest,” police said.
“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to the hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing. He has now been bailed pending further investigation,” the statement concluded.
Linehan, who previously admitted that his focus on the trans movement had led to his wife leaving him and had destroyed his career, is also facing trial in London over separate charges related to harassing a transgender activist and damaging her cell phone.
He denied the charges at a hearing in May.
