Barry Humphries: Top comedy prize renamed after transgender row
Source: BBC
Barry Humphries: Top comedy prize renamed after transgender row
16 April 2019
One of the world's top comedy festivals will no longer use comedian Barry Humphries' name for its chief prize, after he was accused of transphobia.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival said its prestigious Barry Award for best show would be renamed.
Humphries, best known for his character Dame Edna Everage, has repeatedly drawn anger for his comments on transgender people - and later defended himself.
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Last year, he drew criticism for describing being transgender as "a fashion".
In another controversy, he claimed to have been speaking in character when he referred to gender-reassignment surgery as "self-mutilation" in a 2016 interview with The Telegraph. He also described Caitlyn Jenner as a "publicity-seeking rat-bag".
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Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47943745