Scottish comedian Jerry Sadowitz has defended himself after his show at the Fringe was pulled from the programme.
The controversial stand up was set to play two nights at the Pleasance at Edinburgh International Conference Centre only for the second night to be called off on August 13 at short notice. According to The Pleasance Theatre Trust, his material was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘did not align with their values’.
The organisation claim to have received an ‘unprecedented’ number of complaints following his first show. The Pleasance said many walked out of the performance and claimed they felt ‘uncomfortable and unsafe’.
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As well as exposing himself on stage, complaints also included extreme racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny. Speaking to The Independent, the Pleasance said: “Due to numerous complaints, we became immediately aware of content that was considered, among other things, extreme in its racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny.
“We will not associate with content which attacks people’s dignity and the language used on stage was, in our view, completely unacceptable.”
Speaking on his Twitter page, Sadowitz wrote: “I did a 75-minute show for 600 people that went pretty well with no hint of anything going wrong. In addition to now being told there were multiple walkouts and abuse of staff my act is now being cheapened and simplified as unsafe, homophobic, misogynistic and racist.
“My act contains a lot of silly, exaggerated irony and nonsense, real fake and exaggerated anger and bile… for the purpose of the funny line which follows it. I have never once courted a mainstream audience to come to my shows because guess what?
“In real life, I don’t want to upset anyone. The show is what it is, for those who enjoy it, the rest of you - please stick to Carry On films.” The comedian also called on The Pleasance to apologise to those who had purchased tickets for the cancelled show.
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