A COMEDY show at the Edinburgh Fringe featuring Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been cancelled due to the writer’s views on transgender people.
Leith Arches was due to host the Comedy Unleashed stand-up show on August 17.
However, following numerous complaints to the venue about Linehan, bosses decided to scrap the event.
A social media post from the venue read: “We would like to thank the public for bringing to our attention, about a comedian who had been booked for an upcoming comedy show at our venue this Thursday, which we WERE NOT MADE AWARE OF until today via e-mails from, rightly so, outraged members of our community.
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"We DO NOT support this comedian, or his views, and he WILL NOT be allowed to perform at our venue and is CANCELLED from Thursday’s comedy show with immediate effect.
“An outside organiser was responsible for the line up and we were unaware as to who was performing until now.
“We are an inclusive venue and will not allow such views to violate our space.”
Linehan's online remarks about transgender people have been repeatedly criticised, with the comedian's Twitter account being suspended in 2020 for a "hateful conduct rules breach" (it has since been reinstated).
The decision to cancel the event was criticised by the show’s promoter, Andrew Doyle, who also works as a presenter on GB News.
Looks like a pretty clear case of belief discrimination. Here’s the legal opinion I secured when I was unlawfully cancelled. It is of general application, there for all to use & sets the law out very clearly. Here’s the link. https://t.co/ogfu3mhGqD https://t.co/hPI3aJ6Qbs
— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) August 15, 2023
He said on X/Twitter: “It is astonishing that a comedy night at the largest arts festival in the world should be prevented from going ahead, simply because activists are offended.
“The comedy industry is in a dire state. It’s about time that promoters, venues, comedy critics and comedians made a concerted effort to support free expression in the arts.”
It comes after similar decision by comedy venue The Stand to cancel an event featuring SNP MP Joanna Cherry had to be reversed after the politician threatened legal action.
Cherry said the cancellation of Linehan's event "looks like a pretty clear case of belief discrimination".
Earlier this year, Linehan tweeted that gender identity was a "paedophilic movement" and claimed that "almost every central trans figure is a nonce".
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