Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk and author J.K. Rowling are leading a wave of outrage following the arrest of Father Ted sitcom creator Graham Linehan, who was taken into custody by armed police at London’s Heathrow Airport over a series of social media posts criticizing transgender activism.

Rowling, the Harry Potter author, didn’t hold back after news broke of Linehan’s arrest, writing on X, formerly Twitter: “What the f*** has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.”

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Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, echoed the sentiment in a terse but pointed response: “Police state.”

Police state https://t.co/jK1HSKLpGd

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2025

Linehan, a longtime critic of gender ideology, said he was arrested by five armed Metropolitan Police officers immediately upon landing from a flight from Arizona. The arrest, he claims, was over three posts he made on X in April — one of which suggested that if a trans-identified male enters a female-only space, it constitutes a “violent, abusive act.”

“In a country where pedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer,” Linehan wrote on his Substack.

He added that police questioned him about one post in which he urged women to “make a scene” or “call police” if they find a biological male in a women’s space — language he said was intended to make a serious point, albeit expressed through humor.

The arrest prompted swift reactions from several high-profile figures.

Rowling, who has faced immense backlash for her outspoken stance on gender ideology, described the situation as proof that the U.K. is becoming intolerant of dissent.

In recent months, Rowling has reignited debates around the gender identity movement, criticizing fellow Harry Potter colleagues like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and director Chris Columbus for distancing themselves from her views.

Linehan, too, has taken aim at the Harry Potter cast. In April, he posted a photo of Radcliffe, Watson, and Rupert Grint — who played Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively — with the caption: “Wonder how these disloyal bags of sh** are doing today?”

Rowling has similarly questioned the cast’s public support of transgender activism.

Responding to Columbus’s claim that a future Harry Potter cast reunion was “impossible” due to political differences, Rowling wrote: “As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex … I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference,” before listing positions such as “men don’t belong in women’s sports” and “women and girls should have their own public changing rooms and bathrooms.”

She added in another post, “Nothing upsets a weak man more than a woman who makes him feel his cowardice. This is as true of supposed iconoclasts who live in terror of losing the approval of the in-crowd as it is of domestic abusers.”

Linehan, once one of the U.K.’s top comedy writers, says his bail condition, a ban from X, is effectively a “legal gag order,” and that police have asked him to return for further questioning in October.

“No threats, no speeches about the seriousness of my crimes, just a legal gag order designed to shut me up while I’m in the U.K.,” he said.

His arrest has reignited debate over whether British authorities are cracking down on so-called “thought crimes” while failing to adequately address violent offenses and systemic issues.

The incident is the latest in a growing list of controversial police actions involving gender-critical individuals in the U.K. — including arrests of writers, local councillors, and parents — raising alarms among free speech advocates.

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Even Piers Morgan chimed in, comparing the U.K. to “North Korea.”

As the political and cultural fallout continues, Graham Linehan’s case has become a flashpoint in a much broader battle over free expression, policing, and the future of public discourse in Britain.