Graham Linehan, the creator of Father Ted, has accused Edinburgh’s Leith Arches comedy club of “discrimination” after his Fringe show was cancelled over his views on gender. The Mail has the story.
Mr. Linehan was set to join a comedy night at the Leith Arches venue on Thursday as part of a line up put together by comedian Andrew Doyle.
However after some pressure, the venue announced they had axed the sold out gig – insisting that they would not allow the scriptwriter’s views to “violate” their space.
Mr. Linehan blasted the venue and stressed there was no explanation as to what views the Leith Arches find offensive and that as a result the axing sounded “like discrimination on the grounds of my legally protected beliefs”.
Mr. Linehan‘s allegations of discrimination were backed up by SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, Joanna Cherry – herself no stranger to cancellation based on gender views.
Mr. Linehan told MailOnline: “There’s been an ideological coup within the theatre, TV, publishing – a view of the world based on a complete non-belief in biological fact.
“These cultists are going to keep pulling the strings [unless people stand up to them].
“None of this is based on evidence, it’s completely irrational.
“Unfortunately, they have been allowed to have too much power.
“When we wrote Father Ted, we were making fun of people who believed in things that were not rational, having power over society.”
Mr. Lineham says it’s the same with trans activists.
He said: “Once again we have a completely irrational belief system.
“Now we have these people controlling comedians.
“The Catholic Church never tried to stop us telling jokes about them.”
Mr. Linehan has previously been accused of holding transphobic views and received a warning from West Yorkshire police in 2018 after a Twitter row with transgender activist Stephanie Hayden, who claimed the comedy writer had “deadnamed” her and used incorrect pronouns.
In the five years since, he claims he has been cancelled and has lost out of £500,000 of potential income.
He added: “I have been fighting this for five years.
“All I have been doing is arguing that women need single-sex spaces, children don’t need medical intervention to be happy and women deserve fair sports and not be inundated with death threats for standing up against it.”
Ms. Cherry’s own Fringe event, In Conversation with Joanna Cherry, had initially been cancelled by the Stand venue after pressure from activists over her gender critical views.
After seeking legal advice and fighting her corner, Ms. Cherry’s show was reinstated and performed earlier this month.
Reacting to the news of Mr. Linehan’s dismissal, Ms. Cherry tweeted: “Looks like a pretty clear case of belief discrimination.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Andrew Doyle, who was to MC the comedy night featuring Graham Linehan, has written a scathing response to the cancellation in UnHerd, flagging the growing ideological censorship within the comedy scene.
Stop Press 2: Graham Linehan has given an interview to Spiked about being cancelled – again!
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The woke mob are determined to drive Graham Linehan into an early grave, bankrupting him along the way. Linehan is one of the clearest examples of ‘unpersonning’ in the modern age. Not only Linehan, but anyone associated with them – the actor James Dreyfus, for example. I told Daily Wire they should hire him to write a comedy series for them!!
The Trantifa mob are nasty, aggressive, spiteful bar stewards. Never before has a group of people, with their ”Trans rights are human rights” bollocks acted so hypocritically. They really need to be more authentic and change it to ”Trans rights are all that matters and screw yours!” Apparently we must all tolerate them and pander to their BS demands but they themselves do bugger-all in demonstrating any tolerance. Stating an opposing opinion or biological facts sends them into a mental health meltdown or a psychotic episode whereby they feel completely justified in going on the attack. Just the fact they all wear bloody masks all the time gives some indication that they’re not in possession of a full complement of marbles! We need to take a leaf out of zero-tolerance Russia’s book;
https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1691749468876771362
He’ll never agree with the tranny nut-jobs, so of course they want him dead. If they knew who I was, they’d want me dead too.
I believe Joanna Cherry pointed out to the Stand that they had breached contract and that she was a lawyer. I wonder what contract Leith Arches have? Given the gig is sold out what are the odds that there is a lawyer in the audience?
The spirit of Fascism has crept out of the transgender closet where it should have remained . Eventually , our boredom with their behaviour will turn to dislike and then hatred. It is extraordinary that this bunch of weirdos have become so sulphurous but it demonstrates how minorities who are tolerated become themselves intolerable when given a voice.
”“The Catholic Church never tried to stop us telling jokes about them.”
Maybe so but probably not a good idea to try and do a remake of Father Ted based on Islam and entitled ‘Imam Ted’.
‘Imam Mo’ would be my choice of title!
”I’m a biological female but I’m not a woman.” We used to have insane asylums for people like this. And once again, what do you notice? Seems to be a prerequisite.
https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1691382029634727937
A female called “Donna Howden” appears to be the office lackey at Leith Arches…. she has a Friendface Presence
This is Democratic candidate Vivek Ramaswamy having a very civil conversation with a ‘Pansexual’…..(she likes a bit of everything!)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ramaswamy-goes-viral-following-exchange-lgbtq-activist-respect-different-opinion
Hard for her to argue when faced with such civility and common sense?
“We have made the decision to cancel this show, as we are an inclusive venue”
Sounds like a line from one of Graham Linehan’s sitcoms.
How is it that biological facts have now been reduced to the status of ‘beliefs’?