SNP MP considers legal action against Edinburgh Fringe comedy club

2023-05-02

SNP MP considers legal action against Edinburgh Fringe comedy club after being ‘no-platformed’ over her gender-critical views

Bosses at The Stand scrapped appearance by feminist politician Joanna Cherry
The MP has been an outspoken opponent of the SNP’s Gender Reform Bill

Nationalist MP Joanna Cherry is considering legal action against a comedy club amid a backlash over the cancellation of a show she was due to appear in at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Bosses at The Stand Comedy Club scrapped an appearance by the feminist politician at one of its ‘In conversation with…’ events because a number of staff were ‘unwilling’ to work at the show.

Yesterday Ms Cherry, a lawyer and lesbian activist who was an outspoken opponent of the SNP’s Gender Reform Bill, urged the club to ‘reconsider’ and said she was weighing up taking legal action.

The author JK Rowling and Roddy Dunlop, KC, dean of the Faculty of Advocates, were among the high-profile supporters of Ms Cherry yesterday as she spoke out against being ‘no-platformed’. The 57-year-old MP for Edinburgh South West told Times Radio: ‘My options would include legal action. The law is very clear on this.

‘I think we’re all very clear that people shouldn’t be discriminated against on the grounds of their sexuality, and the protected characteristic for lesbians like me is sexual orientation. It’s not gender orientation, it’s sexual orientation.

Nationalist MP Joanna Cherry is considering legal action against a comedy club amid a backlash over the cancellation of a show she was due to appear in at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

‘What I’d like is for The Stand to reconsider their position. The whole point of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is that it’s supposed to be a platform for anyone and everyone to come and perform.

‘I can absolutely assure you that I would have a good case here. Whether or not I choose to follow that option is something I’m thinking about.’

Ms Cherry added: ‘I hope other politicians will speak out in support of me and I hope that the Edinburgh Fringe will perhaps intervene and do something. This is very insidious. If we establish a precedent whereby staff at a venue can stop somebody from speaking because they disagree with their views then, really, where does it end?’ She said her treatment was ‘like a new form of McCarthyism’ – the US phenomenon in the 1950s when unsubstantiated allegations were made about people suspected of being communists.

Yesterday, Ms Rowling tweeted: ‘Jo Cherry’s completely right about modern McCarthyism.’ She said it had been ‘depressing’ to find out ‘how many people I formerly admired would have named names in a heartbeat’.

Mr Dunlop added: ‘It’s plainly unlawful. Is the venue aware that they would be vulnerable to a discrimination claim?’

But The Stand, founded by Nationalist MP Tommy Sheppard, said it ‘will not compel our staff to work on this event and so have concluded that the event is unable to proceed on a properly staffed, safe and legally compliant basis’.

Source: Read Full Article