Graham Linehan: I don't regret my online posts

The arrest sparked a backlash from some public figures and politicians, and prompted a fierce debate about policing and free speech.

Recalling his flight, which landed in the UK on 1 September, he said he "realised something was up" when no one on the plane was allowed to stand up.

"I didn't expect it to be what it turned out to be. And then they called my name out and I think I immediately knew what was going to happen," he said.

He was then met by five armed police officers, who explained he was going to be arrested because of his online posts.

He said he had a strong reaction to being arrested because "for eight years I've been harassed, often by the same small group of men, but also by a wider community online".

When asked if the tone he took in his posts could be described as "vicious and personal to trans people" and if he had tried to "lower the temperature a bit" in what he writes, he said: "I've tried several times, but you always get met by a slap in the face.

"So if people come to me in good faith, I will speak back to them in good faith. If people insult me, I will insult them."

Last week Linehan shared screen shots of the three X posts from April he said he was arrested for on Substack, the subscription-based online platform.

The first post, from his X feed, said: "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."

It was put to him that what he wrote was insulting and violent, and he agreed, but said: "Women have a right to defend themselves from strange men in their spaces."

Linehan said he would be suing the police "for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment."

On 3 September the head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, defended the officers involved, but said he recognised "concern caused by such incidents given differing perspectives on the balance between free speech and the risks of inciting violence in the real world".

He called on the government to "change or clarify" the law following Linehan's arrest, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said police must "focus on the most serious issues", when asked about the arrest.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski called the posts "totally unacceptable", saying the arrest seemed "proportionate", while Shami Chakrabarti, a Labour peer and ex-director of Liberty, a civil liberties group, said "the public order statute book and speech offences in particular do need an overarching review".

"But inciting violence must always be a criminal offence," she added.