Graham Linehan's arrest in Britain over social media posts about transgender people has sparked a debate about free speech.

London's police chief says officers shouldn't be "policing toxic culture wars" amid an uproar over the arrest of a TV comedy writer for anti-transgender social media posts.

Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling were among those condemning British police for detaining the Irish comedy writer over transphobic posts on X

Graham Linehan, co-creator of British sitcoms “Father Ted” and “The IT Crowd,” says he was arrested for his posts criticizing transgender people.

Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow after anti-trans X posts - he has been defended by JK Rowling, Elon Musk.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has responded to the controversial arrest of Graham Linehan earlier this week, saying that police “should not be policing toxic culture

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the Sept. 1 arrest at Heathrow Airport of a "man in his 50s" on suspicion of incitement to violence.

Linehan, who created a number of popular sitcoms in the UK and Ireland, including “Father Ted,” “Black Books” and “The IT Crowd,” said he had been “arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online.”

While Nigel Farage needs little excuse to chip away at the flailing Labour government of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Linehan’s arrest is the latest in a series of incidents that have fueled a furious debate about Britain’s laws on free speech.