Father Ted co-creator Considers Legal Action over Cancelled Fringe Show
Graham Linehan says his cancelled Fringe show didn't contain any jokes about the Trans community.
Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan says he's considering legal action, after his Fringe comedy show was cancelled with just 48 hours notice.
On Tuesday evening, Leith Arches announced on Instagram that it was to cancel a Comedy Unleashed show on Thursday evening after learning Linehan would be the "special guest".
The venue claimed it did not know he would be appearing beforehand.
Linehan is known for his outspoken views on trans rights, and believes that's what's behind the decision, telling us "they made it very clear that I was being cancelled because of my beliefs".
"I'm pretty sure my stand-up act has no jokes about Trans, it's all just kind of observational silly stuff ... and they said it was because my views didn't align with theirs"
"This decision was not influenced by the pressure of online activists"
In a statement released on Instagram, the Leith Arches venue confirmed the cancellation of the 'Comedy Unleashed' show:
"We work very closely with the LGBT+ community, it is a considerable part of our revenue, we believe hosting this one off show would have a negative effect on future bookings"
"This decision was not influenced by the pressure of online activists, but by our regular community who use the space on a daily, weekly and monthly basis"
Linehan refuted the suggestion he's Transphobic, insisting "if I'm a Transphobe, then I'm a Transphobe who knows more Trans people than the people calling me a Transphobe. My friends include trans identifying men and women, and de-Transitioners."
"Just once I would love these people to tell us exactly where they disagree with us. They never can, because it's impossible to defend gay and autistic and gender non conforming youth having surgical interventions, it's almost like society's been hypnotised into allowing it to go this far, but I think it's a crime against humanity."
"It's so clearly and obviously unfair for males to be in women's sport and yet you never see debates about it, you never see Trans rights activists defending the positions they have, because they know they're wrong, they know it's unfair."
"It'll just keep happening until we make an example of these venues."
Linehan said he feels duty bound to pursue legal action against the venue's decision "because we want to stop this happening to other people".
"It happened last year with Jerry Sadowitz and in that case too, the comedy community was shamefully quiet about it. It'll just keep happening until we make an example of these venues."
"I wrote a musical based on Father Ted that was ready to go. We had all the songs rehearsed, we had even little dance routines ready for them, we were about to go into our third read-through of the script. It would have been my pension, it might even have made my fortune, and it's been stolen from me by these same kinds of people who have installed themselves in every organisation and institutions across the UK."