Graham Linehan to address US Congress over 'free speech threats' after online censorship row
In front of Congress, he will say that Britain’s cultural elite, including the Prime Minister, "hid from culture wars".
Graham Linehan will tell US Congress that Sir Keir Starmer has censored free speech in Britain.
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The IT Crowd and Father Ted creator, 57, will stand before Congress to investigate online censorship laws.
Mr Linehan was detained by five police officers in Heathrow airport in September on suspicion of inciting violence over a string of alleged anti-transgender tweets.
The Irish TV writer had vowed to "hold the police accountable" for its attempt to "silence and suppress gender-critical voices". Scotland Yard has now dropped the case.
In front of Congress he will say that Britain’s cultural elite, including the Prime Minister, "hid from culture wars".
Read more: End of the culture war police: Met to stop non-crime hate investigations after Graham Linehan probe
"Sir Keir came to power saying that he was going to end the culture war, but what he’s actually done is he’s hid from it," he told The Telegraph.
“I want to point out that this elite is kind of working against the interests of working-class people. He [Sir Keir] has made it a million times worse, and it won’t get better until he’s gone.”
The committee will be chaired by Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman, alongside numerous Trump allies.
Several members said they were "shocked" after looking into the case as a part of a probe into foreign censorship.
Social media companies now face fines of up to £18million or 10 per cent of their annual revenue if they fail to remove content deemed harmful from their platforms.
Mr Jordan said ahead of Wednesday’s hearing: "Europe’s censorship unfairly targets American companies and threatens American innovation.
"This hearing builds on the committee’s investigation into how foreign laws, regulations and judicial orders coerce online platforms into censoring US speech.
"Graham Linehan and our other witnesses will highlight just how bad European censorship has become and what it means for American freedoms."
In September, the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage appeared before the committee.
He told the committee about the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months over a social media after the Southport attack.
She called for mass deportations and said "set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******s for all I care, while you’re at it, take the treacherous government politicians with them”.
Connolly deleted the message less than four hours later.
She pleaded guilty to one count of inciting racial hatred in relation to the post.
She was released on license after serving more than 300 days in prison.