Jimmy Carr has called disgraced writer Graham Linehan ‘brave’ while on tour in the US.
The Father Ted and IT Crowd writer, 57, was arrested by armed police when he touched down at Heathrow Airport in September.
The Irish writer was arrested ‘on suspicion of inciting violence’ after expressing anti-trans views on social media.
According to the Daily Mail, while at a show in Minneapolis for his Jimmy Carr: Laughs Funny tour, the comic read questions submitted to him from the audience.
‘Welcome to Minnesota, Jimmy. Do you have any good jokes that would get you arrested at Heathrow?’ read one joke as an audience member shouted: ‘Where’s Graham Linehan?’
Carr reportedly replied: ‘Graham Linehan. I f***ing love Graham. Whether you agree with Graham or JK Rowling or not, you have to admit, the thing that’s in short supply in our society is bravery.
‘And he’s a f***ing brave guy. It’s easy now to say men are men, women are women, and there’s a very tiny percentage of people that want to live different lives – let them do their own thing.
‘But at the time, when he started saying it, it was f*****g incredible that he was saying it – and he gave up everything.
‘He lost his family, he lost his career, he lost everything. And then he was getting f*****g arrested at the airport. F*****g madness.
‘You’ve got the First Amendment. F*****g cherish it.’
Graham then wrote on X that he was ‘delighted’ to receive the comedian’s support.
‘Delighted that Jimmy Carr has shown support. I hope it’s now safe to say that he alone visited me when I was being cancelled and trying desperately to save my marriage and career. He wasn’t even a close friend, so it was exceptionally kind,’ read one tweet on X.
‘I couldn’t expect him to defend me earlier because the same people who came after me were constantly trying to cancel him. They nearly succeeded a number of times so I certainly didn’t want his career on my conscience.’
Linehan had been open about his views in recent years, which has resulted in his shows being axed from various events and venues, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Ahead of his arrest, Lineham called trans women ‘violent men’ and claimed ’trans activism gives scummy men the opportunity to unleash any misogyny they want on uppity women’ on X.
Most recently, Linehan announced he would face no further action after his arrest, with the police announcing that they would no longer investigate ‘non-crime hate incidents’.
Metro has reached out to Jimmy Carr’s representatives for comment.
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