Matt Berry played Douglas Reynholm who was the central character in that controversial transphobic IT crowd episode. Despite that, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because it was the 2000s and the topic of trans rights was virtually non-existent in mainstream discourse. It was also before Graham Linehan outed himself as a raging bigot. I also absolutely love that show in general.

I don't know if Matt has ever talked about his views on trans people, but him appearing on this is not a good sign, and very disappointing for me as someone who is a fan of his work.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 27 points 1 week ago (3 children)

The writer of the IT crowd (and black books 😭) is a massive supporter of jk, a well known transphobe, and generally consider a lunatic. It's a shame those shows are hilarious.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 42 points 1 week ago

Huh, from Wikipedia:

Linehan became involved in anti-transgender activism after an episode of The IT Crowd was criticised as transphobic. He argues that transgender activism endangers women and has likened the use of puberty blockers to Nazi eugenics. Linehan says his views have "consumed his life", lost him work, and ended his marriage.[3]

Not just a thoughtless transphobic episode but actually a campaign of hate that consumes his life.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

(and black books 😭)

The premise of the series and the characters were all created by Dylan Moran. Linehan was just a co-writer.

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh i didnt know that! I definitely feel linehan's influence in the writing for black books though. It feels similar to father ted and IT crowd, you know?

[–] groucho@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 week ago

He (Linehan) only wrote for the first season, too. They parted ways after that.

[–] cheers_queers@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

The Know Rogan Experience pod broke down Linehan's episode of Joe Rogan if you want to hear his shitty views without directly supporting Joe' content

[–] theangriestbird@beehaw.org 22 points 1 week ago

Yeah, Berry was the biggest disappointment for me, but I guess it kind of fits his history.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago

Berry doesn’t like talking about it on the record. He has sometimes talked about how badly he feels about it to interviewers off the record.

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago

i'm super sad dermot morgan is gone but i'm also glad there's no way he could possibly depress me by caming out in support of graham.