Singer Roisin Murphy Says Music Critics Told Her to Grovel After Criticizing Puberty Blockers for Kids — or They Would Lower Her Album Review Scores

Irish singer Róisín Murphy says journalists essentially blackmailed over her criticism of puberty blockers for confused children.

Murphy found her career taking a hit back in 2023 when she criticized so-called “gender affirming” black-label use of prescription hormones. The singer-songwriter had taken to X at the time to say that “puberty blockers ARE FUCKED, absolutely desolate, big Pharma laughing all the way to the bank.” And she added, “little mixed up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true.”

She later tried to apologize for the perfectly reasonable opinion, but the woke mob came for her neck, anyway. It wasn’t long before she began finding her music groaning under a boycott and her concerts, appearances, and media hits being canceled.

This week, Murphy commented on the harm she suffered, alleging that music critics wanted her to apologize and say she was ignorant if she wanted to keep high review scores for her then-latest album.

“My album Hit Parade came out 2 years ago today, in the middle of a controversy,” Murphy wrote in an X post this week. “Having been told previously by music journalists that it was already ‘album of the year’ when the controversy broke I was instructed by the same people to admit ‘ignorance’ and apologise or face a drop in scores. These messages were passed on to me by my then record label, Ninja Tune. I have the receipts.”

She added, “This is not journalism or criticism, it’s authoritarianism.”

“The record did indeed suffer revised scores across the board and was left off the end of year lists. It wasn’t just upsetting for me but also very frightening to see how the whole of the music media, in tandem, were able and willing to punish a work of art for the sake of activism,” she wrote.

“To say I’ll never be the same again is an understatement. Props to The Guardian for not changing the 5 star score. But the piece itself is rotten to the core. And the record was never again mentioned by them, I really hope one day that changes,” Murphy concluded.

The behind-the-scenes blackmail campaign from legacy media was out of step with actual consumers. Last year, Murphy told France24 English that the backlash among actual fans “wasn’t that bad.”

“I didn’t get these death threats or anything like that. I got lots of support. I had three or four people ask for tickets back. So, it really wasn’t terribly bad,” she said at the time.

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