A venue has admitted discriminating against a Jewish comedian after cancelling his show at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Telegraph has more:
Philip Simon, a stand-up comic, had been due to perform a solo show called Shall I Compere Thee In A Funny Way at the Banshee Labyrinth, on Niddry Street, last year.
However, the venue pulled his act over what it said were his views on the war in Gaza.
In a statement given at the time to industry website Chortle, the venue said Mr Simon had expressed views on social media and elsewhere that it claimed “align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations”.
Responding to the decision on social media, the performer said he had been cancelled “just for being Jewish”.
“The reason I was given is that my views concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine… are in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli Government’s policy and actions,” he added. …
Mr Simon took legal action against the venue, claiming it had discriminated against him on the grounds of “unlawful belief-based discrimination”.
This culminated in a hearing at Edinburgh sheriff court on Monday, where David Welsh, Mr Simon’s lawyer, said that “on the eve of the hearing”, the venue accepted that it had acted unlawfully. …
However, Mr Welsh was critical of the defender’s conduct throughout Mr Simon’s legal action, saying it had “dragged out proceedings” despite knowing any defence was “untenable”.
He told the court this led his client to incur “avoidable expenses at every stage”, and called on the court to award him expenses incurred to date. …
Judge Sheriff Roderick Flinn said he would retire to consider the question of expenses, and give his decision later on Monday.
Worth reading in full.
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I give the whole thing (the Fringe) a very wide berth these days. It has become totally infested with Marxism and identity politics. Like everything else, really.
“He told the court this led his client to incur “avoidable expenses at every stage”, and called on the court to award him expenses incurred to date. “
The process is the punishment
And he still didn’t get to perform his show.
Hit them for a £million, that will teach the Far Left scum.
Is that Judge PostboxFace he is stood next to?
No, he has retired.