After Gareth Roberts confirms he will be edited out of the BBC Books series, co-author Susie Day and trans actor Bethany Black share their relief over the publishers' decision.
- Jun 6, 2019
AceShowbiz - A former "Doctor Who" writer has been dropped from an upcoming anthology series after offending publishers and fans with transphobic tweets.
Contributions by Gareth Roberts, who wrote for the TV series when David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi were Doctors, will no longer feature in BBC Books series "Doctor Who: The Target Story".
Roberts, who is gay, has confirmed the news, insisting his two-year-old tweets were made in "cheerful vulgarity."
"I have rejected restrictive cultural gender stereotypes for as long as I can remember," he wrote, "(but) it is impossible for a person to change their biological sex. I don't believe anybody is born in the wrong body."
Publishers at Ebury chose to edit his contributions from the anthology because Roberts' comments conflict with their "values."
Co-author Susie Day was among the people who complained about Roberts, tweeting, "I raised my concerns, and said if he was in, I was out. BBC Books made their decision. I'm grateful they took the opportunity to demonstrate that transphobic views have no place in the Whoniverse, both in and outside the stories."
Bethany Black, the first trans actor to appear on "Doctor Who", has also praised the decision, adding, "Gareth Roberts lost his spot in a Doctor Who anthology because of transphobic comments he made. Good."