Jess Glynne criticised for using transphobic language during podcast interview
"It was like a t****y, like, strip club thing"
Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: Atlantic Records
Jess Glynne has been criticised for using transphobic language in a new podcast interview.
Footage of the ‘Thursday’ singer using an offensive term on The Mo Gilligan Podcast has been circulating on social media this morning.
During her interview, Glynne is heard recalling visiting a queer strip club with friends – before using the remark “t****y”.
“There was just men dressed as…”
“This is probably the funniest bit,” the 30-year-old tells Gilligan. “We got to the end our like, trail, whatever, it was like a t****y, like, strip club thing.
“There was just men dressed as…”
The star goes on to describe the shocked reaction of her “bad man” companion who “stood in the corner” and said “‘what is this?'”
Harpies Strip Club founder Lucia Blayke has shared the footage on Instagram, saying in a caption: “@jessglynne as an actual TRANS STRIP CLUB, we’d ask you not to use slurs like ‘t****y’ and ‘men in wigs’ in your public interviews.
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“Also the tone in which you tell this story is way off, as if a ‘t****y strip club’ is something to ridicule and laugh at. Come down to Harpies Strip Club and you’ll see nothing but powerful, legendary beings who are beautiful inside and out, we are nothing short of extraordinary and our existence is much more than a comedic anecdote for you to laugh about.
“You have a big platform, you made the choice to become a globally recognised musician, you made the choice to have the responsibility of being an influencer. What you say MATTERS, you influence a culture that at the minute is extremely hostile to trans women. Black trans women are being murdered and here’s you using slurs and laughing about the ideology of trans sex workers?
“For the record, Jess Glynn [sic] is not talking about Harpies here, she is talking about something at @glastofest. It most likely weren’t even a trans strip club, it was probably a cis-gay drag queen party like NYC Downlow, she’s comparing it to a “t****y strip club” to make the story seem more ludicrous, but guess what, we exist and we are not a laughing stock.”
The t word is only used to describe something ugly or unrefined. Worse, it’s the last word too many women have heard before they died.
I don’t know if Jess was mindful of how this word is used to hurt us. https://t.co/RwHy1Jd6Si
— Juno Dawson (@junodawson) March 7, 2021
Responding to the news, writer and activist Juno Dawson said on Twitter: “The t word is only used to describe something ugly or unrefined. Worse, it’s the last word too many women have heard before they died.
“I don’t know if Jess was mindful of how this word is used to hurt us.”
Attitude has approached a rep for Jess Glynne for comment.