Locals in Swansea have hastily organised a two-day festival in the city to counter a pair of appearances by controversial media figure Katie Hopkins. Wokefest will be staged along the High Street later this week in response to Hopkins' sold-out shows at nearby Cinema & Co.
The festival will take place at venues such as The Tangled Parrot, Elysium, Hippo and Jam Jar on Wednesday and Thursday (May 3 and 4) this week. Its organisers said they were all for free speech but would not tolerate "hate speech" or those that deliberately spread misinformation.
Co-organiser Jules Woodhell told Nation Cymru: "Wokefest is more than just an entertainment event. It is a statement of unity and a celebration of the strength of diversity. The festival will feature a range of talented performers, musicians, poets, and speakers from all walks of life, who will showcase their skills and spread their message of hope and positivity. We are proud that Swansea is a city of sanctuary - it is important for everyone to feel welcome and safe here.
"We totally support freedom of speech, but hate speech and spreading misinformation are another matter. We named the festival Wokefest as, in recent times, the term 'woke' has been used derogatively. But we absolutely own being 'woke' as it means we are conscious of systemic injustices and strive to actively address and dismantle them. The festival fully embraces and celebrates this mindset."
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Initially rising to prominence on 2007's series of The Apprentice, Hopkins went on to carve out a career as an outspoken commentator, often sparking outrage with comments on race, religion and immigration. A former contributor to MailOnline and The Sun, she was banned from Twitter in 2020 for breaking rules on hate speech. In addition, last year saw her deported from Australia after boasting on social media she planned to breach the country’s quarantine rules.
And Cinema & Co is also no stranger to controversy. In December 2021 its owner Anna Redfern was fined £15,000 for opening the business despite being ordered to close for Covid public health reasons. She subsequently launched an appeal against the level of her fines but abandoned it after a judge at Swansea Crown Court ordered a detailed disclosure of her finances.
This included the whereabouts of tens of thousands of pounds in cash from an online crowdfunding campaign. In a recent tweet the venue claimed that by hosting Hopkins it's merely advocating 'freedom of choice' and that 'nobody should police humour'.
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