Rocky Author Comes Out to Set Things Straight

12 March 2004
Inger Vos

The Rocky Horror Show's Richard O'Brien wants to set the record straight.
The author, formerly from Hamilton, has hit back at critics slamming moves to erect a statue in the city commemorating his show featuring transsexuals and transvestites.

O'Brien has written to the Times "to set a couple of things straight" after reading columns in the New Zealand Herald by Pippa Stevenson that he believes are an anti-Rocky campaign.

He said the statue seemed to have brought the "mean-spirited out of their lairs".
"I'm sorry this has become such a contentious issue but I can assure Ms Stevenson and her supporters that it will not turn anybody into a tranny –- that seems to happen in the womb," said O'Brien.

Stevenson had also questioned Hamilton City Council's decision to honour a man that nobody seemed to know for a show that was described as "lewd, vulgar and tasteless".

O'Brien said the show received rave reviews in London. "It was never described by the London critics as lewd, vulgar and tasteless. We received the most wonderful reviews, some of which recognised the fact that it was the retelling of The Fall From Eden."

The statue of cross-dressing cult hero Riff Raff, who O'Brien played in the movie, will be sited near the old Embassy Theatre where O'Brien watched many B-movies. He has said Rocky was partly influenced from his time here.

Some emails and letters to the Waikato Times have also said the decision by councillors showed the city was seriously lacking in good common sense and moral judgment, and that the city would become known as a tranny town.

O'Brien said many arguments seem to be based on people's perceptions of "what is and what isn't art".
"It would be a shame to see a symbol of artistic creativity come to nothing as a result of interference from one or two pseudo intellectuals."