Just over two years ago, a comment from the Wicklow disco singer Róisín Murphy’s Facebook page caused a lot of fans to express disappointment and upset at the artist’s hostile views around transgender kids.
Her response to being called a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and her words about about puberty blockers, big Pharma, and “little mixed up kids”, prompted enough backlash for Murphy to respond with a qualified apology.
It is a statement of fact that Murphy’s audience features a large cohort of people from the LGBTQIA+ community – disco music is rooted historically in the gay community which has fought hard to gain recognition – the same fight the trans community is facing now, so many fans were crestfallen that Róisín Murphy claimed in that statement that “I never patronise or cynically aim my music directly at the pockets of any demographic,” when a lot of her audience is clearly drawn from the queer community in question.
She went on to say “I will now completely bow out of this conversation within the public domain.”
Despite attacks of her detractors and childish name-calling from prominent TERF supporters who suggested people wanted her to be cancelled, Róisín Murphy has continued to play live across Ireland, UK and Europe over the last two years, while some fans have certainly chosen not to support her – seeing her words and apology as a line they could not cross.
Róisín Murphy shared a graph on Twitter
Now, over two years later, Murphy has reopened the conversation once more – wading in on the existence of transgender young people once more, this time on X, suggesting with the use of a graph that the recent rise of US transgender and non-binary people aged 18 to 22, is a myth, fad or trend.
“It was never real. Terribly sad though. Absolute havoc wreaked on children, families and society,” she said.
It was never real. Terribly sad though. Absolute havoc wreaked on children, families and society. pic.twitter.com/ULx4QT20ww
— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) October 21, 2025
In a reply to the post, Murphy says ‘I was told over and over to “go and get educated” well I did,’ while others replied saying the graph is a truncated version that doesn’t show the previous rise and peak for context.
The Blessed Madonna and Sega Bodega respond.
In response, the Chicago DJ and disco-house producer Blessed Madonna posted a video on Instagram, saying in public what she said to Murphy in private the last time out – how she idolised her and got no response.
“You had me fooled once..you were never a queer icon, “Marea Stamper says, “You’re another dusty TERF that knows how to count queer money and serve a look.”
Irish-Chilean producer Sega Bodega also responded to Murphy’s post on Instagram saying “trans people are the punching bag of society …. trans people are the victim of the things you are talking about.”
If you’re wondering why Róisín Murphy felt compelled open this can of worms once again, one of her replies suggests why – “It wouldn’t have hurt my career if I could’ve denied the disturbing reality of gender ideology. I just couldn’t do it.”
Róisín Murphy responded today to reaction to her post.
The mob is out in force. The more I see of this cruel “activism,” the more convinced I am that I do not want them anywhere near me or my music, however that may affect my career. I won’t be held to ransom—no more blackmail. What I see more than anything is a spoiled and entitled childishness. I am not interested in being their “mother” or “queen”; these babies need to grow up and allow artists like myself the dignity of opinion and the space and freedom to create. Or let them have AI pop star avatars that never question them. Let the music industry do its worst; let it continue to infantilize and exploit them. Let them have a hologram, perfectly designed for an insular, echo-chamber culture. Perhaps I’ve lived through the last moments of the best period in popular music and, in fact, it’s over—or at least it is at the beginning of the end. If that is so, I have nothing to lose. Just for the record, I have zero hate toward trans people; I do not deny anyone’s existence. The post that has caused such frantic panic among the trans activist mob is a graph that shows a steep decline in trans and non-binary identity in young people over the past few years in the USA. My declaration “it was never real” refers to the contagion that was undoubtedly aided by the submission of the media, captured medical institutions, and social media derangement. Recently, this wilfully blind and irresponsible behavior has been curtailed to some degree, as more and more people affected by it stand up and demand a long-needed audit of trans ideology, which continues to stamp its boot across anyone who decries its negative consequences. Children, families, women, and gay people have all been adversely affected by the insane belief that one can change sex—the core hallucination of this destructive and insidious movement—while bad faith actors have lined their pockets. The arts as a whole are a shadow of their former free and inclusive selves. I’ve had the most free and fun time possible making the music I believe in over the past 30 years. If being a compassionate artist is to be my downfall now, then so be it. I know in my heart that one day, I will be remembered as a brave person, both morally and artistically uncompromising. In the long run, that will be my legacy.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
Well said Roisin Murphy, You are entitled to your views and to say what those views are in a Democratic Republic. Free speech belongs to all and creates debate. Biological Fact Only 2 genders and you can’t change the biology you were born with. Impossible. It’s a fact . Speak your mind Roisin and don’t be bullied by the woke left idealiogy.
Re: Biology & Genetics:
I am weary of people with very basic knowledge of these areas trying to school everyone on the “facts” of gender. Things are not so clear cut as “male” and “female” on even a scientific level. Here are some facts that any geneticist would know:
1: There are more sex chromosome combinations out there than XX and XY. There are XO, XXY and XXX, and typically people don’t know they have these variations until they investigate fertility issues.
2: There are people who are misgendered because their genitalia don’t develop fully at the embryo stage, so they may appear male or female but in fact have the opposite chromosomes, this is called “intersex”.
3: Epigenetics refers to the multiple factors that affect gene expression: food, stress, radiation, smoking, air quality and so on. Furthermore, there are genes besides X & Y that affect gender expression. It is because of epigenetics that you can find 10 siblings from the same parents and they are each unique and different. Equally so, not every woman or man is an equivalent unit of gender, there are variations in how we each present our gender, some are social, but some are innate to our unique genetic cocktail, and each human is remarkably unique in this sense. It’s like taking the 26 letters of the alphabet to write the billions of different types of literature that exist in this world.
So, those are the facts. We really live in a dumb, dumb timeline.
Gender isn’t a biological subject. Haven’t you noticed gender is specific to humans? That ought to provide something of a clue. Or maybe not.