Stephen Fry on child abuse victims: ‘Your self pity gets none of my sympathy’

'QI' host is critical of 'infantile' culture of trigger words and safe spaces

Stephen Fry has made controversial comments about child abuse victims, saying they should stop feeling sorry for themselves.

The former QI host, who quit Twitter earlier this year after saying the platform had become a “stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous”, spoke about the culture of political correctness in the UK while appearing on US show The Rubin Report.

A conversation which started off on the subject of Oxford University and students’ attempt to get the divisive Cecil Rhodes statue removed, soon gave way to Fry’s more general views on censorship.

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“There are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even considered a rape,” Fry said in reference to art being perceived differently by different generations.

“They’re terrible things and they have to be thought about, clearly, but if you say you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch Titus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in a Shakespeare class, or you can’t read Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place, well I’m sorry.

“It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self pity gets none of my sympathy because self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.

“Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.”

The comments have already sparked backlash on social media, with users accusing Fry of lacking sympathy and being a hypocrite.

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