Tony L
Administrator
It also seems like an assertion of power on the part of venue owners - relative to that of artists and audiences - and it’s jarring to see such strong support for that on this thread.
Until you are platforming the next Tory leadership hustings or EDL rally in your back garden to prove you believe venue owners have no rights I’ll not be giving that one much credibility. A venue owner clearly has the right to define what they are prepared to platform or not. Don’t like it? Buy or create a venue and apply your own ‘no censorship’ perspective and see exactly what crap you get to deal with.
PS I do find this one puzzling as JS is clearly what he is and the venue owner should have been aware of what sort of content to expect prior to signing a contract for the show. I’d be interested to know what was the deal-breaker here and exactly what the contract stated. The Edinburgh Fringe is clearly a high-profile big ticket event for any act with a name, I assume the venue will have lost many £thousands in pulling the plug here and may even be in breach of contract depending upon the precise wording of whatever was agreed. The way people are digging in here knowing nothing about the detail is amusing in the extreme. I’ve deliberately stayed clear of everything bar generally attacking the far-right trope of “cancel culture” and explaining the basic concept of freedom of choice applies in what a venue platforms. Both very non-controversial points IMHO. I’ve said nothing about this incident as, like everyone else, I know no detail. There seems to be a lot of Jordan Peterson cry-whining around, but that is always the case with these things these days.