An upcoming comedy festival in Scotland has been canceled because one of the scheduled performer’s has said that men can’t become women, woman can’t become men, and that “women deserve single sex spaces and fairness in their sports.”
The “Comedy Unleashed” event in Edinburgh will not be happening after critics called out 55-year-old Irish comedian Graham Linehan’s past comments about transgender people, the Independent reported. The co-creator and co-writer of the Channel 4 sitcom “Father Ted” was on the bill for the event being held at Edinburgh’s Leith Arches, which often hosts LGBT events.
“We were not made aware of the lineup of this show in advance,” the venue wrote. “We are an inclusive venue and this does not align with our overall values.”
In a follow-up post, the venue reiterated that the “controversial line-up” was brought to their attention last minute and that it works “closely with the LGBT+ community.” The post also explained that the venue believed hosting Linehan “would have a negative effect on future bookings.” The group also insisted the decision was “not influenced by online activists,” but by its “regular community.”
Linehan reacted to the news in a post on X, saying that he hadn’t been given any explanation for the cancellation and asked the venue to give him a detailed reason.
“There is no explanation as to what views the Leith Arches find offensive,” the comedian wrote. “That women deserve single sex spaces and fairness in their sports? That children shouldn’t be mutilated and sterilized? That JK Rowling shouldn’t receive death and rape threats?”
“[Could] I have some details?” he added. “Because it sure sounds like discrimination on the grounds of my legally protected beliefs.”
Speaking later to TalkTV, Linehan said it’s not great what has happened to him — but he added that one good thing that has come from it is that it has drawn attention to “essentially a group of highly ideological cultists” who “have taken over institutions across society.”
When pressed by the host if he was aware what these views were that the venue claimed “would violate” their space.
The comedian said, “The most important view I have is that it is a crime against humanity to tell children that they may have been born in the wrong body.”
“And I feel that the views that I and J.K. Rowling have expressed on this matter have been completely vindicated,” he added, noting the closure of Tavistock, the only gender identity clinic in the U.K.
He also said that if a trans-identifying male goes into the women’s bathroom with his “daughter, I will pull him out by his ankles.”
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