THE Fringe venue which cancelled a stand-up show set to feature Father Ted creator Graham Linehan due to his views on transgender people has made a public statement.
Leith Arches was due to host the Comedy Unleashed stand-up show on Thursday, August 17. But following numerous complaints to the venue about Linehan, it was decided to scrap the event.
Linehan's online comments about transgender people have been repeatedly criticised, including that gender identity was a "paedophilic movement", as well as that "almost every central trans figure is a nonce".
His Twitter account was previously suspended in 2020 for a "hateful conduct rules breach" but since reinstated after Elon Musk took charge of the platform.
The venue also received criticism for the cancellation, including from SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who previously threatened to sue The Stand comedy club after it cancelled the Edinburgh Festival Fringe show she was set to appear in because of her views on trans rights.
She said the cancellation of Linehan's event "looks like a pretty clear case of belief discrimination".
A social media post from the venue attempted to clarify why the decision was made to cancel the event. On Wednesday morning, it read: “As you will be aware by now, the Thursdays Comedy Unleashed has been cancelled. It was brought to our attention at the very last minute of the very controversial line-up.
“We work very closely with the LGBT+ community, it is a considerable part of our revenue, we believe hosting this one off show would have a negative effect on future bookings.
“The decision was not influenced by the pressure of online activists, but by our regular community who use the space on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
“Sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
Linehan has since said he might consider legal action.
Speaking to TalkTV’s Julia Hartley-Brewer on Wednesday morning, Linehan said: “It was cancelled within a couple of hours. So I had two hours of excitement and fans saying they were going to go.
“It was a sell-out. But you do get used to this kind of thing after a while.
“It never really makes you feel good.
“The only good thing about it is that it’s drawing more attention to the fact that, essentially, a group of highly ideological cultists have taken over institutions across society.
“If they apologise and put the gig on, I’ll say no more about it but otherwise I’ll be looking at legal action.”
