STEPHEN Fry has sparked outrage after criticising the idea of safe spaces and trigger words, and saying that child victims of sexual abuse should "grow up" and not feel sorry for themselves.

The actor, author and television personality made the controversial comments during an interview with Dave Rubin on the US current events TV show The Rubin Report.

Rubin asked Fry about whether he considered "the regressive left, coming after language and free speech" to be an issue in Britain.

Fry, 58, replied: "We fear that it's going to happen more and more because America leads and Britain follows in all kinds of ways."

He added, referring to controversy over a statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College in Oxford: "I think it started to happen in Britain with the attempted removal of statues of people who are considered unlikable - who were once beloved - and have become in a very 1984 way, 'unpersons'."

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