Comedy event cancelled at the Fringe because of Glinner?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

I hadn't seen anything about this on X/Twitter previously, but apparently some activists have been putting pressure on the venue and they've cancelled an upcoming event called Comedy Unleashed because one of the comedians is Graham Linehan. How utterly pathetic. https://twitter.com/UnleashedComedy/status/1691476377793409024?s=20 Seems to be organised by/associated with Andrew Doyle, aka Titania McGrath.

In other news, Mark Lamarr seems
to be having his arse handed to
him…
72 likes and 237 comments.

It might be my algorithms, but my take on the current Twitter spats going on re the cancellation is that loads more tweeters (or are they Xers) are throwing in "but the venue seems to be breaking the proper law, not Stonewall law".

Great publicity and I believe the team might have found a new venue.

I've not noticed what "there isn't a cancel culture outside Twitter" bloke is up to today?

Post from the Joanna Cherry thread mentioned, which is a doozy of legal cluelessness. This post puts the "makes offensive comments on Twitter at another time" into some context of what other comedians, like him, say when trying to be funny:

"I believe this year they platformed Frankie Boyle, who has ''joked'' about:

-raping and murdering Holly Willoughby
-that Victoria Pendleton's strength is sexy but she still wouldn't be able to force him off her
-''joked'' that Katie Price married a cage fighter so he could stop her severely disabled son from raping her. Also ''joked'' that the 'loser' in a custody battle would be the one that had to to keep Harvey.
-cancer victims
-AIDS
-people with Downs Syndrome
-“I’ll abuse you so badly your gynaecologist will think you’ve been in a fucking car crash.”
-''I'm so old, my pussy is haunted''.

But The Stand draw the line at a woman who thinks biological sex is real and important. Quite strange, isn't it?"

Should Boyle be denied basic legal protections also if he were discriminated against? What's your take @PlanetJanette ?

just popping this in as a reminder of how last year’s Fringe cancellation story played out:

The publicity made Sadowitz’s national tour sell out, he played the Hammersmith Apollo and he’s back in Edinburgh this year at a different venue, doing three nights instead of 2.

it’s not a totally happy story (Sadowitz is a complicated chap) but it is a reminder that cancellations are minority views imposed upon a majority.

https://amp.theguardian.com/stage/2022/oct/18/jerry-sadowitz-edinburgh-ban-cancel-culture-diktat-nudity-sexism-furore-interviewing

It’s pretty straightforward - they can cancel if they receive information that the event would, in their opinion, prejudice their reputation.

That is precisely the sort of clause that I said was common, and you said was hardly ever used.

Yeah I think a venue would be free to decline to take a booking involving Frankie Boyle.

And yet cancelling has done far more damage to their reputation 😕

It’s pretty straightforward - they can cancel if they receive information that the event would, in their opinion, prejudice their reputation.

But not if the thing that would prejudice their reputation is hosting someone with a protected characteristic.

Do you really think "it would harm our reputation to serve X" is an excuse that works as a loophole permitting anti-X discrimination?

I haven’t found a similar clause doe
a comparable venue to Leith Arches and haven’t found a legal case that used a clause like that successfully against a legal action- have you?

‘Information’ would presumably need to be accurate (and not discriminate against a protected characteristic) to stand up in court (and the fact that repetitional damage has been caused by cancelling to avoid potential reputational damage is hilariously ironic).

I do hope it goes to court. We will get days of entertainment out of it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BPV-rnEC-HU

But would they be free to cancel a booking they had already made a contract for?

Again you have no way of knowing if they breached their contract without seeing it.

So it's not just me that's twitching then...

No - but I’ve explained separately why I don’t think it’s as clear that GL is protected by the Equality Act as some on here do.

Again that depends on the terms of the contract.

Surely they can only defend their actions based on the reasons they have when they cancelled the booking, not something they make up later after speaking to their lawyers.

I’ve already given you three examples. UWL is not just meeting space it is also performance space hire.

The fact that disrepute clauses seem so alien to you suggests you’re perhaps not as au fait with the world of venue hire as you claim. I’m not saying those clauses are universal but they are very common - it’s unthinkable that someone claiming to know that industry would think they don’t exist.

I’m not sure GL being an odious man with a vile record is the secret you think it is.

Thread by Anya Palmer

https://x.com/anyabike/status/1584948094965534720?s=46&t=ibVI24cP7Ts3w2nqa22VXg

Have you come up with a successful case using a disrepute clause yet? I think it’s just puff that falls down at a legal challenge (hence the fact that none of the bars and clubs I’ve hired in the last 30 years have bothered with it).

Also: a performance venue in a
university is is still part of the university, silly!

That, my friend, is entirely subjective.

This one was also Edinburgh.

<a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/2021.07.08-154033/www.thetimes.co.uk/article/edinburgh-council-pays-25-000-to-destiny-ministries-over-religious-gig-it-cancelled-spzjwsxnk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://archive.ph/2021.07.08-154033/www.thetimes.co.uk/article/edinburgh-council-pays-25-000-to-destiny-ministries-over-religious-gig-it-cancelled-spzjwsxnk

Here’s a link that works:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-57429026.amp

Yeah I think a venue would be free to decline to take a booking involving Frankie Boyle.

They'd already taken the booking. They cancelled the whole show, involving not just Glinner/Boyle but others.

Do you think TRAs imagine Julie Bindel to be ‘odious‘ and to have a ‘vile record’?

Because Nottingham Council got spanked for cancelling that contract:

https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/51859-council-admits-decision-to-cancel-talk-over-views-of-speaker-was-procedurally-unlawful

I’m not sure GL being an odious man with a vile record is the secret you think it is.

In what way is he an odious man with a vile record? Examples?

TRAs imagine Joanna Cherry to be odious and have a vile record. And yet she could still make a successful challenge to the venue who cancelled her event, and have it reinstated.