Comedian Hannah Gadsby piled-on by trolls for calling Barry Humphries a ‘d**k biscuit’ in 2018
Hannah Gadsby has been targeted by trolls for a 2018 tweet about Barry Humphries (Getty Images/ PinkNews)
Comedian Hannah Gadsby has been attacked by a host of trolls for a 2018 tweet, in which they referred to the late Barry Humphries as an “inhumane d**k biscuit”.
Humphries, who died on Saturday (April 22) at the age of 89, left a mixed legacy. On one hand, the Australian entertainer found stardom with his violet-haired drag persona, Dame Edna Everage. On the other, a repeated history of transphobia left many fans disappointed in a man they believed to be a lover of liberty.
One of Humphries’ critics was fellow Australian comedian Gadsby, a non-binary lesbian comedian best known for their Netflix special Nanette – not that they said anything about him recently.
In a 2018 tweet, Hannah Gadsby said that Barry Humphries was losing his touch as a comedian, and was someone who “hates vulnerable minorities, and [had] completely lost the ability to read the room.”
The tweet continued: “That’s not a comedian, that’s an irrelevant, inhumane d**k biscuit of the highest order.”
The tweet hung in the ether before Australian entertainment journalist Peter Ford posted a screenshot of it following the news of Humphries’ death.
“Comedy is subjective. We don’t all find the same things funny. Hannah is entitled to her opinion. However, my view is that I understand Hannah identifies as being funny but Barry actually was funny,” Ford tweeted.
“I hope [they] feels proud the charge [they] led against a then 84-year-old man.”
Ford’s tweet has prompted a backlash against Gadsby.
One of Gadsby’s opponents have called them “a man-hater”, and blamed their critique of Humphries on their “awful experiences at the hands of men”.
Another wrote: “Hannah Gadsby being a comedian will surprise many, I suspect.”
A third joined the pile-on, writing: “Well, I for one have to agree with Dave Chappelle, Hannah Gadsby just isn’t funny.”
It’s worth noting that Chappelle is also a notoriously anti-trans comedian.
Hannah is a massive hypocrite, I was once a fan, never again.
— Michael Wilson (@_sharklover) April 22, 2023
I get she’s had awful experiences at the hands of men but we aren’t all the same.
She’s a man hater, imagine if we all treated others poorly because of experiences with just a few.
However, many have come to Gadsby’s defence in the comments underneath Ford’s post, asking why he felt the need to instigate the “pile-on”, nearly five years after the original tweet.
“Why share something posted in 2018?” one asked.
Another added: “Why bring up a tweet from five years ago when you could just post a tribute to Barry? Why post this which will only result in a pile on?”
Why would you bring this up now? It was five years ago. She hasn’t engaged in commentary around him since his death. You’re not engaging in good faith conversation around the issue or mourning Barry Humphries. You’re just looking for a fight and trying to embarrass a good person.
— Dad Told Me to Change My Name (@eamsmurphs) April 23, 2023
The comments about Gadsby are not confined to Ford’s post. Calls for the queer comedian to be “cancelled” have surfaced in other areas of Twitter, where more trolls have referred to a quote from Humphries about Gadsby, in which he said that they were “as funny as a fire in an orphanage”.
Barry Humphries’ previous transphobic comments
In recent years, Dame Edna star Barry Humphries had been criticised for his comments about the trans community, which he later claimed had been “taken the wrong way”.
In 2016, Humphries defended the philosopher and writer Germaine Greer, who described transgender women as “men who believe that they are women and have themselves castrated”. He mentioned Caitlyn Jenner as part of the discussion.
“I agree with Germaine. You’re a mutilated man, that’s all. Self-mutilation, what’s all this carry on?” he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
Three years later, Humphries claimed his position had been “grotesquely interpreted”.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, he explained: “Edna carefully said she thought that men who had themselves castrated did not become women, and that got taken the wrong way.”
In a 2018 interview with The Spectator, he also claimed that being trans is a fashion, adding: “How many different kinds of lavatory can you have? And it’s pretty evil when it’s preached to children by crazy teachers.”
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