Oh gee, how nice of him.

Eddie Izzard rules out appearing on all-women Labour MP shortlists

Izzard, 60, who became famous as a cross-dressing comedian and now identifies as a gender-fluid trans woman, has made the longlist of the open contest to become Labour’s candidate for the safe seat of Sheffield Central in the next general election.

In a short telephone interview with the Guardian on Thursday, Izzard said she had suffered a “torrent of transphobic abuse” since announcing her candidacy, including being photographed by a gender-critical feminist using the women’s toilet.

Oh poor darling. How dare those bitches talk back to him just because he’s trying to shove them aside.

Though Izzard announced two years ago that she preferred to be addressed with female pronouns and wanted to be “based in girl mode from now on”, she said “I don’t mind he/him”.

Anything as long as we’re all talking about Eddie Izzard. The key thing here is to keep TALKING ABOUT EDDIE IZZARD.

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, suggested recently that she would rather be arrested than refer to Izzard as “she”.

When asked about the possibility of misgendering someone becoming a hate crime, Duffield said: “Is that a serious thing? Is that coming to parliament anytime soon? I hope not because you might as well arrest me now. I’m not calling Eddie Izzard a woman.”

Imagine arresting people for saying Rachel Dolezal is not black. Now imagine arresting women for not saying Eddie Izzard is a woman. The first is absurd, the second is commonplace. Shut up, women, you don’t matter.

Asked for her message to Duffield, Izzard said: “She has got to join the 21st century. She’s got to catch up with the rest of us. The vast majority of the world is now moving forwards … The millennium has happened and we’re 22 years into it. So come and join us in the 21st century.”

Fuck you, Ed. We haven’t “got to” do anything at your command.

On the pronoun question, Izzard said: “I am not telling anyone else to do anything. I prefer she/her. Don’t mind he/him. Changing my pronouns after a number of years being out just seemed to align more with how I was living my life. And am I not allowed to do that?”

Depends. If you’re doing it inside your head, sure. If you’re doing it outside your head and ordering the rest of the world to play along, not necessarily.