'Sherlock' Actress Amanda Abbington Deletes Twitter amid Transphobia Accusations: 'I'm Not a Hateful Person'
"I am not a transphobic person, I am a firm supporter of the legitimate trans community. I always have been," the actress said in an Instagram video while addressing the recent backlash
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Amanda Abbington is signing off — but not without clarifying her side of the story.
Following the backlash over her casting on BBC’s latest season of Strictly Come Dancing, the Sherlock actress, 49, deleted her account on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Abbington was one of the first celebrity competitors announced on the dancing reality show, but quickly faced criticism for her controversial comments about transgender individuals.
Many fans threatened to boycott the show while others reportedly called the actress a “TERF” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist, according to Deadline.
After she left the platform, Abbington posted an Instagram video, where she addressed the controversy and noted that the backlash was due to a tweet she posted in March about a 12 year old performing drag in an "over-sexualized" way.
In Sunday's video, Abbington said she believed drag was "brilliant" and “an art form." She also emphasized how it "absolutely has a place in the entertainment industry," but claimed she did not support a child performing in a "sexualized" manner in front of adults.
"I’m sorry if you feel like you would boycott Strictly for a tweet I made about a drag show," she said, alleging that her comments were not associated with the trans community. “I am not a transphobic person, I am a firm supporter of the legitimate trans community. I always have been.”
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Abbington continued, "I think they have been infiltrated by some people who want to cause damage and want to cause trouble and pit people off of each other and cause as much harm as possible. But I would support any trans person who is feeling persecuted or not listened to or not seen."
"I'm not a hateful person," she emphasized, later noting that she left Twitter voluntarily "because I don't like it over there anymore."
"What we need to do now more than ever is just make sure that everybody is looking after each other," the Mr. Selfridge actress added. "It’s f---ing toxic out there. It’s horrible."
This isn’t the first time Abbington has faced criticism for her comments about the transgender community.
In a post on Facebook back in 2020, she reportedly wrote, “You cannot have a penis and want to be referred to as a woman,” according to Deadline. She later addressed these comments and called her post “stupid” and “ill informed.”
“I did my research and I’m much more informed now,” she explained at the time, per the outlet.
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In her Instagram video on Sunday, Abbington made reference to those comments, admitting, "I've said stupid things and instantly regret them. Everybody's learning."
"I am an ally of the LGBTQ community," she noted. "Everybody does stupid things but it's what you do after that is important and how you address them."
"I'm not transphobic... I think there's a place for everybody as long as we're aware of each other and we look after each other and don't go for each other in a hateful way," she concluded. "So I'm sorry."
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