Royal Academy apologises for ‘cancelling’ artist Jess de Wahls over trans row
by Katya Edwards, Mail+:
The Royal Academy of Arts has issued an apology to textile artist Jess de Wahls after her work was withdrawn from its gift shop following comments she made about sex and gender.
Ms De Wahls claimed a social media ‘mob’ had been ‘mounting against’ her for remarks in a blog post in 2019, in which she said ‘humans cannot change sex’.
She denied accusations of transphobia but the Royal Academy shop ceased stocking her work after receiving several complaints, which led officials to get in contact with the German artist.
[…] The Royal Academy said in a statement: ‘There has been a great deal of debate around the RA’s recent communication about no longer stocking the work of Jess de Wahls in the Royal Academy shop.
‘We have thought long and hard since then about this and the wider issues it raises.
‘One thing is clear to us now – we should have handled this better. We have apologised to Jess de Wahls for the way we have treated her and do so again publicly now.
‘We had no right to judge her views on our social media. This betrayed our most important core value – the protection of free speech.’
Jess de Wahls: Cancelled (and un-cancelled) by the Royal Academy Freddie Sayers spoke to the artist about her fracas with the institution: Unherd
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