Justice Minister reassures actors about inclusion in Hate Crime Bill
Live theatre performers can find themselves on the wrong side of the law if found to be "stirring-up hatred" during a performance, but now must intend to do so.
Holyrood's Justice Minister Humza Yousaf has revealed he changed the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill after hearing from people in the acting community.
Performers are included in section four of the proposed legislation and can be charged if found to be "stirring up hatred" on purpose as part of a performance in live theatre.
Actors spoke to Clyde News earlier this month about their concerns for the Bill, at which point "intent" was not a vital aspect of it.
The proposal also included the term "likely to stir-up hatred", which actors told us left a "grey area" in relation to what they could say as part of a script, but that also isn't a concern for them anymore after changes were made last week.
Mr Yousaf says actors can proceed with their careers as normal if the Bill is passed, as long as they don't behave in a "threatening or abusive" way and "intend to stir-up hatred".
He told Clyde News: "We're trying to tackle hate. Not just actions that are aggravated by hatred, but also the stirring-up of hatred.
"In terms of performances and plays, if someone puts on a performance and their behaviour is threatening or abusive with the intent to stir-up hatred, it's important that anyone conducting that behaviour has culpability for it.
"There is a defence of reasonableness in the law and this is one of the reasons I wanted to move to intent only.
"If I'm an audience member who goes to watch a play about World War II and somebody is portraying Hitler, if their language and behaviour is threatening and abusive, I don't think I'd describe it as such in a court of law because I know I'm going to see a performance.
"I know I'm seeing an actor play a character, in this case, Hitler.
"It's a two-part test. Behaviour has to be threatening or abusive and it's got to be done with intent.
"If you don't have both of those tests met, then an actor can't be prosecuted."
The Justice Minister heard concerns from the acting community and decided to take action due to fear any legislation would force performers to "self-censor".
He continued: "The arts are meant to provoke, challenge and offend at times as well.
"The Bill never mentions the word offensive. This isn't about offensive language or behaviour.
"This isn't about clamping down on artistic expression. I didn't want any form of self-censorship either and my concern was that if the law contained "likely" as one of the tests, then even if people weren't prosecuted there would still be an element of self-censorship and that's something it was intended to do.
"A number of people in creative industries were saying they were concerned their behaviour would be captured, even if they had no intention whatsoever of stirring-up hatred.
"That was definitely one of the factors in removing "likely" from the Bill as the people that were concerned were making their case very loudly and clearly."