TV anchor refuses to use guest’s non-binary pronoun: ‘Grammatically incorrect’

During a recent segment on TalkTV, anchor Julia Hartley-Brewer landed herself in controversy by using the wrong pronoun for her guest. Julia Hartley-Brewer had invited journalist Shivani Dave to discuss the CASS Review – an independent review of NHS gender identity services for children and young people. However, the talk went south after Hartley-Brewer introduced Dave using she/her pronouns.
Dave said, “Good afternoon, Julia. You know my pronouns are they/them. How are you doing?”
Despite Dave’s explicit request for non-binary pronouns, Hartley-Brewer refused to use them, saying that she was using “correct grammar”.
“You can choose what you want to call yourself. But you don’t get to require me to use incorrect grammar and factually incorrect things,” Hartley-Brewer said.
She added, “You’re not a plural. You’re one person, and you’re a female person. So, I will use ‘she’ and ‘her,’ thank you very much.”
Dave then tried to steer the conversation back to the review, saying, “Do what you like, I guess.” They added it is not grammatically wrong to use they/them pronouns for an individual. Dave further expressed that they want people to use the correct pronouns in case they want to refer to them “respectfully”.
That’s when Hartley-Brewer asked Dave if it is “disrespectful to use correct, factual grammar?”
The anchor added that she is using “correct pronouns for a single woman” appearing on her show.
Dave reiterated they were not a single woman but a “very special, non-binary, trans person”. The “special” part was in reference to the remark made by Hartley-Brewer before Dave joined her on the show. The anchor said that people “with all these labels” like to be “special”.
“Okay. I’m not special. I’m just a boring, old, heterosexual, married woman. But you know, sorry about that. We’re not allowed to do that anymore,” Hartley-Brewer said.
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The video was shared a few hours ago on Instagram. It has since then accumulated numerous views and a flurry of likes. Additionally, the post has received a plethora of responses from people.
“The way this got me fuming,” expressed an Instagram user.
Another added, “So disgusting. It’s not that hard to use they/them pronouns for one person. We do it all the time if we don’t know the gender of a person.”
“Disgusting! If a person wants to be called they/them that is their right as a person,” chimed in a third.