The IT Crowd star Chris O'Dowd wishes Graham Linehan was still involved in television
Chris O'Dowd wishes 'The IT Crowd' and 'Father Ted' creator Graham Linehan was "in the industry more" after being exiled over his outspoken views on transgender issues.
Chris O'Dowd wishes Graham Linehan was "writing more" for television.
The 'IT Crowd' writer and creator has come under fire for his outspoken views on transgender issues, including being banned from X, then Twitter, before Elon Musk's takeover for "repeated violations of our rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation", while he has since been reinstated and is still very vocal on the issue.
However, Chris told The Times newspaper: "I wish he was writing more, and I wish he was in the industry more. I think he's the best comedy writer I've worked with."
Graham - who also co-created 'Black Books' and 'Father Ted' - has opened up about how his views have impacted his whole life, citing the breakdown of his marriage and financial insecurity, claiming he has been "cancelled".
Chris urged "more people" to talk to his former collaborator about his opinions.
He added: "I don’t necessarily want to get into his views, but I do think that it's a shame that more people don't go and talk to him about them because – whether I agree with them or not – they're not peripheral."
Chris' former 'The IT Crowd' co-star Richard Ayoade has similarly praised Graham's skills as a writer in the past.
In a quote featured in publicity materials for Graham's book 'Tough Crowd', he said: "Graham Linehan has long been one of my favourite writers – and this book shows that his brilliance in prose is the equal to his brilliance as a screenwriter.
"It unfolds with the urgency of a Sam Fuller film: that of a man who has been through something that few have experienced but has managed to return, undaunted, to tell us the tale."
He later told Gyles Brandreth's 'Rosebud' podcast his review was more about his writing rather than his viewpoints.
He said: "I think he's a great writer, a brilliant writer, and I think everyone who would know him would know he's a man of great principle, I think."
