Stephen Fry Investigated For Blasphemy In Ireland

Stephen Fry Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 9, 2017

Stephen Fry. Image by gettyimages

Irish police opened a blasphemy investigation into British comedian Stephen Fry before quickly closing it.

Fry, who is Jewish, told an interviewer on Irish television in 2015 that if God exists, he is “capricious, mean-minded and stupid.”

In recent days, Irish police investigated the remarks to determine whether Fry had broken Irish anti-blasphemy laws. The police closed the investigation on Monday, The New York Times reported.

It’s not clear why the police chose to investigate comments made two years ago.

According to the BBC, news of the investigation drew massive online attention to the old clip of Fry’s interview.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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