Amanda Abbington has come under criticism again after claiming to represent the “real trans community.”
Last week, the Sherlock actress, 49, was named as the first contender for the new season of Strictly Come Dancing, but soon after, several fans vowed to boycott the show after previous tweets of hers surfaced.
Amanda responded to footage from a Caba Baba Rave, a baby sensory and cabaret presentation for parents and their babies aged 0-2 years old, earlier this year.
Following a video of a raver dancing in boots and a bondage harness, the actress tweeted that the concert was “not for babies” and that “if you believe it is, there is something profoundly wrong with you.”
In reaction to the outrage, she has repeatedly denied being transphobic over the last week, but now India Willoughby has stepped in.
Sharing a social media post written by Amanda, India, 57, wrote: ‘Amanda Abbington basically saying she’s transphobic because she’s looking-out for trans people – “who need protection”.
Amanda was reacting to a remark on a recent Instagram video in which she stated she was not transphobic.
Amanda stated in the video that she supported the “genuine trans community.”
When asked to explain that comment by a journalist, she responded that she ‘merely meant that I worry when I see men suddenly identifying as women when they think it’s going to benefit them’.
‘Predatory men. Not all but there have been some cases where this has happened and it doesn’t help the trans community because everyone then focuses on those people and it diminishes and endangers the trans community,’ she continued.
‘The trans community need protection. Women in refuges and prisons need protection. Predatory men will do anything. That’s all I mean. It’s such a delicate and complicated situation.
‘We just need to be aware of people who will take advantage of a community wishing to be understood and accepted.’
Amanda doubled down on her previous statements in an Instagram video this week, but claimed they had nothing to do with the trans community.
‘My tweet back in March was regarding a 12-year-old who was doing it in front of adults, and it just upset me because I saw a kid, a little kid, a 12-year-old, doing something very over-sexualised and I didn’t think it was right,’ she said.
‘Personally speaking, I don’t think 12-year-olds should be performing in drag shows in overtly sexual ways because they’re 12 and they need a childhood, it’s nice for kids to have a childhood and grow up and find that out when they’re old enough to really understand it.’
She added that her tweet had not been ‘associated with the trans community, nor would I associate that with the trans community, because I think they’re two separate things’.
Going on to describe drag queens as ‘hilarious and brilliant and an art form’, Amanda added that she thought there was ‘absolutely a place’ for them in the entertainment industry.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC later this year.
