The Blessed Madonna rebukes Róisín Murphy after Westminster speech on “censorship”

The Blessed Madonna has publicly called out Róisín Murphy after Murphy argued that censorship holds a “chokehold” on the arts in a speech given at Parliament this month.

Murphy, who first sparked criticism in 2023 for a Facebook comment about puberty blockers, addressed a launch event for a Freedom In The Arts report, saying the creative sector needs room to offend and to be wrong.

“The creative soul of this country […] has always thrived on discomfort, on the freedom to be wrong, to offend, to pivot and to surprise ourselves,” Murphy said, per The Telegraph. “Without that freedom, we don’t get better art, we simply put artists into a chokehold and suffocate the life out of our culture.

“We need free, equal and open debate. The arts must breathe freely again.”

Murphy also warned artists that they self-censor online to avoid “offending the wrong people” or risking funding. She posted a shortened version of the speech on X. “It’s not the first time in history artists have faced oppression and it won’t be the last. We should support each other, come together and defend our shared space, our territory, the place where imagination can roam free. Because if they come for one of us they will eventually… pic.twitter.com/tB6WOXJIxf

— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) April 29, 2026 %%LINK:https://twitter.com/roisinmurphy/status/2049447380794126401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%%

American musician The Blessed Madonna, who identifies as non-binary, responded in a lengthy Instagram post. “What is wrong with you Roisin? Are you going through it? Are you going through some kind of psychological change in your life?” they wrote.

They continued: “There was a time I would be surprised that you stood in Westminster Palace – a literal seat of power, with a literal microphone, being literally platformed – and framed yourself as someone being silenced by a conspiracy of the T in LGBT.”

The post concluded: “A boycott is not simply people who decline to purchase your album and express their rejection of you in your Instagram comments. What you are experiencing is considerably simpler: consequences.”

You can read The Blessed Madonna’s post in its entirety below.

Murphy first drew public criticism in 2023 after posting on Facebook to criticise the use of puberty blockers for transgender and gender-diverse youth. She later issued an apology, writing that she “cannot apologise enough for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social-media fire and brimstone”.

Late last year Murphy posted a chart she said showed a decline in young people identifying as trans or non-binary, captioning it: “It was never real. Terribly sad though. Absolute havoc wreaked on children, families and society.”

After that post, Istanbul’s Back In Town Festival removed Murphy from its October lineup. Murphy responded on X with a longer post blaming “the mob” and insisting she had “zero hate toward trans people; I do not deny anyone’s existence.” She added that the contested graph showed a “steep decline in trans and non-binary identity in young people” and described the rise as a contagion aided by media and institutions.

Artists including CMAT and Lambrini Girls have publicly criticised Murphy’s posts on transgender people.

Despite the controversy, Murphy has continued to perform at major shows and festivals. In 2024 she joined Johnny Marr in supporting New Order at a large outdoor Manchester show and headlined Ireland’s All Together Now Festival alongside The National and Jorja Smith. She also played Primavera Sound with Pulp, Justice, Troye Sivan, PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill, Charli XCX and others.

In 2025 she appeared at festivals including LIDO, MEO Kalorama and Electric Castle.