Róisín Murphy has been dropped from a festival in Istanbul, Turkey, after a recent trans post she shared sparked controversy.
The Irish singer first came under fire for her views towards the trans community in 2023 when she posted a comment on Facebook using her personal profile, criticising the use of puberty blockers – medicines used to delay the changes of puberty for transgender and gender-diverse youth.
Murphy then backtracked on the comments, saying that she “cannot apologise enough for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social-media fire and brimstone”.
Despite this, the singer last week made another comment online about trans people – posting a chart purporting to show that the number of young people identifying as trans or non-binary has dropped significantly in recent years. “It was never real,” she wrote in the caption. “Terribly sad though. Absolute havoc wreaked on children, families and society.”
The data appears to be sourced from Tufts University’s Cooperative Election Study, and is based on a survey taken across the US for 18-22 year olds between 2021 and 2024. Despite the findings seemingly showing a decline in people identifying as trans or non binary, Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, analysed the data and outlined how the drop is likely something that reflects worsening social conditions, rather than an actual change in identification.
“One possibility is changes in acceptance,” Twenge said to Fox News. “So acceptance increased, more young adults identified as transgender and/or were willing to identify as transgender in a survey. When acceptance declined, identifying as transgender (or at least identifying as transgender on a survey) declined.”
Now, following Murphy’s comments, Back In Town Festival in Istanbul removed Murphy from the line-up over the weekend.
In a statement (as per Stereogum), they said: “We are extremely excited about the Back In Town Festival, which will be held for the first time this year. From the idea phase, we started with the dream of a true music festival centred in Istanbul, which we missed – including everyone in all its diversity, where everyone can feel safe and belong.
“Our entire language of communication, our selection of artists, and our partners have been shaped to strengthen this texture with all the opportunities available to us. With the same perspective, we added Róisín Murphy to our line-up as a headliner, believing that she represents the energy we missed and touched many of you in a sincere place.
“However, the statements she shared in recent days completely eliminated these feelings. Because we would never be comfortable including her in such a festival set-up, we would like to state that we cannot include her in our programme, keeping the values we try to introduce to you above all things – and knowing that this stance cannot have any financial equivalent.
“Back in Town Festival will take place as planned with the new headliner that we will announce soon. We thank you for being with us, and we expect understanding from everyone whose hearts we have unintentionally broken.”
The mob is out in force. The more I see of this cruel “activism,” the more convinced I am that I do not want them anywhere near me or my music, however that may affect my career. I won’t be held to ransom—no more blackmail. What I see more than anything is a spoiled and entitled…
— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) October 23, 2025
In response to the criticism she received last week, Murphy posted a lengthy X post which read: “The mob is out in force. The more I see of this cruel ‘activism’, the more convinced I am that I do not want them anywhere near me or my music, however that may affect my career. I won’t be held to ransom – no more blackmail. What I see more than anything is a spoiled and entitled childishness. I am not interested in being their ‘mother’ or ‘queen’; these babies need to grow up and allow artists like myself the dignity of opinion and the space and freedom to create. Or let them have AI pop star avatars that never question them. Let the music industry do its worst; let it continue to infantilize and exploit them.
“Let them have a hologram, perfectly designed for an insular, echo-chamber culture. Perhaps I’ve lived through the last moments of the best period in popular music and, in fact, it’s over – or at least it is at the beginning of the end. If that is so, I have nothing to lose.
“Just for the record, I have zero hate toward trans people; I do not deny anyone’s existence. The post that has caused such frantic panic among the trans activist mob is a graph that shows a steep decline in trans and non-binary identity in young people over the past few years in the USA. My declaration ‘it was never real’ refers to the contagion that was undoubtedly aided by the submission of the media, captured medical institutions, and social media derangement. Recently, this wilfully blind and irresponsible behaviour has been curtailed to some degree, as more and more people affected by it stand up and demand a long-needed audit of trans ideology, which continues to stamp its boot across anyone who decries its negative consequences. Children, families, women, and gay people have all been adversely affected by the insane belief that one can change sex – the core hallucination of this destructive and insidious movement – while bad faith actors have lined their pockets.
“The arts as a whole are a shadow of their former free and inclusive selves. I’ve had the most free and fun time possible making the music I believe in over the past 30 years. If being a compassionate artist is to be my downfall now, then so be it. I know in my heart that one day, I will be remembered as a brave person, both morally and artistically uncompromising. In the long run, that will be my legacy.”
Last week, artists including CMAT, Lambrini Girls, and The Blessed Madonna were among those who criticised Murphy‘s posts about transgender people.
In a video shared on Instagram, American musician The Blessed Madonna, who identifies as non-binary, hit out at Murphy, saying: “I saw that post today. I just have to say, however long it takes, go fuck yourself Róisín. You had me fooled once, you really did. And many people. But you were never a queer icon. You’re another dusty TERF that knows how to count queer money and serve a look.”
Lambrini Girls also went on to list a number of reasons why the graph seemed to show a decline in the number of people identifying as trans or non binary. They outlined how it could be due to how “an increased anti-trans rhetoric, legislative attempts of erasure, are going to affect reporting”, and how “politicians and the media are making it unsafe for trans and non binary people to exist”.
CMAT also took to Instagram Stories to stand in solidarity with the trans and non binary communities, sharing: “I sincerely hope that A Certain Other Irish Pop Star gets the help that she needs, but right now she is very publicly acting like a bully and is absolutely not a voice to be listened to or trusted when it comes to trans lives.”
Murphy has continued to tour with big names and at big festivals since the controversy in 2023. In 2024 she joined Johnny Marr in supporting New Order at a huge outdoor show in Manchester, and that summer also saw her headline All Together Now Festival in Ireland alongside The National and Jorja Smith.
Also in 2024 she joined Pulp, Justice, Troye Sivan, PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill, Charli XCX, and more in performing at Primavera Sound, and in 2025 she has performed at festivals including LIDO, MEO Kalorama, and Electric Castle.