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Father Ted Creator Graham Linehan Blasts Arts Venue for ‘Discrimination’ After Axing His Edinburgh Fringe Show ‘Over His Stance on Gender Issues’

by Richard Eldred
16 August 2023 1:00 PM

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!

Tags: Cancel CultureDiscriminationEdinburgh FringeFather TedGraham LinehanWoke Authoritarianism

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