The Róisín Murphy row rumbles on. The Irish singer suffered a pile-on last month after she criticised puberty blockers and declared that ‘Big pharma [was] laughing all the way to the bank.’ She swiftly apologised but naturally, that wasn’t enough for the pitchfork-wielding mobs on social media. Traditional outlets piled in too, with the Guardian publishing a typically witless review of the ex-Moloko frontwoman’s work.

So Mr S was intrigued to hear of talk that Murphy has now been ‘cancelled’ by the BBC. Five hours of the Irish singer’s songs, interviews and concert highlights were due to play on 6 Music next week, as part of the station’s Artist Collection. The programme had been scheduled to air between midnight and 5am on next Monday. However, Murphy has now been replaced by, er, rapper Little Simz. Was this yet another example of the Corporation bowing to mindless groupthink?

Not a bit of it, they say. According to a BBC spokesperson:

The Artist Collections from our archive are regularly on rotation and frequently change to reflect station-wide initiatives as they get confirmed. Little Simz was scheduled to reflect 6 Music’s Way With Words programming, which celebrates poetry, rap and spoken word, and airs the following week, tying in with National Poetry Day. There was no other reason for the change. Roisin Murphy has been played on 6 Music recently and her Artist Collection remains in rotation.

Steerpike is glad to hear such assurances and looks forward to hearing Murphy’s tunes on the Beeb very soon…