Kelvin Mackenzie was the former editor of the sun
As the son of a Church of Scotland minister you would have thought David Tennant of Dr Who and Broadchurch fame would embrace all God’s creatures. What’s clear is that isn’t true if you are fighting for women worried about sharing a lavatory with a trans woman or if you are a black female politician.
Then Mr Tennant can abandon his carefully crafted sharing and caring approach to all mankind and instead use his fame as a sledgehammer at an LGBT awards ceremony to use language against Kemi Badenoch, a Cabinet minister, which he wouldn’t dream of using against the Left.
To tell Ms Badenoch to ‘’ shut up’’ and wish she ‘’ didn’t exist anymore’’ would normally have serious career implications for an actor of his standing.
But in the audience listening to his rant last Friday (and first reported yesterday) was the comedian Katherine Ryan, the Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli and DJ Rylan Clark.
There hasn’t been a peep out of them. But there has been a peep out of Ms Badenoch. And a magnificent peep at that.
Mr Tennant always knew that he would get a good reception at this kind of event. He was accepting the Celebrity Ally prize at the British LGBT awards. According to the organisers, he is ‘’one of the LGBTQ+ community’s most feared allies’’. Good for him.
They noted he ‘’often does red-carpet interviews while wearing pins associated with the community, with one particular Dr Who-themed Tardis badge designed in the colours of the Trans Pride flag.’’ Very creative.
So, you would have thought in this ‘’community’’ above all else he would have taken the opportunity when on stage to say something nice about everybody.
Instead, this is what he said about Ms Badenoch who, as Women and Equalities Minister, wants to ban women trans women from women’s toilets; ‘’ Until we wake up – and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist anymore- I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.’’
Astonishing stuff. Ms Badenoch pushed back straight away firstly pointing out Tennant was a ‘’ rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government.’’
Then she said Tennant was prioritising ‘’ applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.’’ I prefer that point.
Tennant is a typical representative of the kind of privileged metropolitan Leftist who will cheer from the rooftops of their multi-million-pound homes in Chiswick when Labour romp home on July 4.
Of course, Tennant is a longtime ally of another area of life- the Labour party. Surprise he hasn’t received an award for it.
He’s 53 now and 20 years ago did a party political broadcast for Labour and in 2010 lent his voice to a broadcast supporting Gordon Brown and once again in 2015 voiced another political broadcast for the Socialists.
When the Tories are beaten Ms Badenoch will an early be an early front runner to take over the leadership. This rebuttal of Tennant’s attack will have done her no harm.
Just imagine what would have happened to a white actor’s career if he had told a black female Labour politician to shut up and hoped they didn’t exist anymore. That phone would never have rung again.
Whereas it’s the complete opposite among the Lefties. This vile outburst from Tennant will have done him nothing but good among the luvvie community. His phone will ring off the hook with offers of work and messages.
With his interest in politics, I wonder if Tennant has been following the story of the nurses in Darlington who are upset about a trans colleague who shares their changing room but looks at their breasts and lingers too long while they are undressing.
When they raised their concern with their HR department they were told to ‘’get educated’’. Those nurses have now gone to law. Good luck to them.
Would Tennant have the same view or would he have told them to shut up? I think we can safely say he wouldn’t be an ally.
