THE organisers of an Aberdeen Christmas pantomime have defended their decision to cast Janey Godley after a Tory MSP expressed concerns over her “offensive” historic tweets.
Douglas Lumsden (below), MSP for the North East region and former co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, wrote to Aberdeen Performing Arts questioning the comedian’s suitability to appear in the upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast at His Majesty’s Theatre.
Lumsden had pointed to posts about disabled people and Chernobyl victims, adding he was “deeply concerned” that public money could be used to support someone who made those “grossly offensive comments”.
Godley apologised last night for the resurfaced tweets, describing them as “horridly offensive”. She added that her profession is “no excuse to use disgusting and hurtful words”.
Responding to Lumsden’s letter, Aberdeen Performing Arts defended casting the popular comedian.
Jane Spiers, the organisation’s chief executive to whom Lumsden addressed his letter, said: “Janey Godley is a stand up comedian and we have had many stand ups on our stages over the years who are considered provocative and controversial. Janey Godley is in this tradition.
“In line with the 40 venues on her current tour, including two sell out shows at the Tivoli on the Aberdeen leg of her tour, we would not consider this a reason for banning her from our venues.”
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Craig Pike, the chair of the organisation, said: “We stand by our decision to cast Janey Godley in our Panto. Beauty and the Beast is a traditional family panto.
“Panto by convention is topical but it is a scripted, acting role, not a stand-up gig and Janey Godley is cast as an actor playing a role. We approve the script and make a judgement call about content.
“In response to Douglas Lumsden’s comments about the use of public money to fund Janey Godley in panto, 88% of our annual turnover is earned income. Our panto is a commercial production and is not underwritten or subsidised by the public purse. The profits generated go entirely towards reducing our reliance on public subsidy and to fund our charitable work. The response to our casting announcement resulted in exceptional sales.”
Meanwhile Michael Harrison, the chief executive of Crossroads Pantomimes, said organisers are “very much looking forward” to the December production.
“Janey saw many through the dreadful lockdown period with her humour and commitment to shining a brighter light on dark days, “ he went on. “We are sure she will continue to shine that light on Beauty and the Beast this Christmas.”
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