A Graham Linehan gig in Ireland has been cancelled after the venue was “too cowardly” to stand up to “pressure from activists”.
Despite the cancellation, the Comedy Unleashed tour, which features Linheam, Andrew Doyle and is MC’d by Aidan Killian, will now take place at a larger venue in Dublin on September 13.
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A description of the event reads: “Comedy Unleashed was founded by Andrew Doyle and Andy Shaw in response to increasing self-censorship in comedy. As the UK's Home of Free-thinking Comedy it sells out monthly stand-up comedy shows in London, Leeds and Manchester.
“The club hosts counter-cultural comedians, celebrates free-thinking comedy and takes a stand against censorship by showcasing cancelled comedians and organising gigs against censorship laws.”
Graham Linehan has had events cancelled previously as a result of his stance on gender issues
PA/Gript Media
Linehan, creator of Father Ted and The IT Crowd, has found himself in a constant battle to save his livelihood since he began to speak out on trans ideology.
A show featuring Linehan was cancelled twice last year at Edinburgh Fringe and he also claimed he had been refused a pass to the Conservative Party conference.
The comedy writer was also suspended from Twitter in 2020 after tweeting “men aren’t women tho”, following a post from the Women’s Institute wishing a happy pride to its transgender members.
Whilst his account has since been reinstated, Linehan was publicly cancelled, and has lost both his wife and job.
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Apparently the 3rd night of our Comedy Unleashed tour in Ireland has been cancelled, because the venue was too cowardly to stand up to pressure from activists.
— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) August 29, 2024
However, we’ll now be performing at a bigger venue on Friday 13 Sept in Dublin. Tickets here…https://t.co/gIhL0qQZRy
His 16-year marriage to fellow writer Helen Serafinowicz collapsed after his cancellation, and Linehan blames trans activists for their split.
He told the Telegraph in 2023: “One of the reasons why it’s good in a way that the marriage failed is simply because they can’t get at her anymore. They [trans activists] sent her appalling abuse. And they released our address online. I can’t really talk about it beyond that.”
His comments comparing puberty blockers to a type of Nazi-style experiment, caused widespread upset amongst the LGBT community, with Pink News labelling him a “bigot”.
In 2020, an episode of the IT Crowd was removed over its transgender plotline. Channel 4 stated: “In light of current audience expectations, we concluded it did not meet our standards for remaining available... and it was not possible to make adequate changes.”
A show featuring Linehan was cancelled twice last year at Edinburgh Fringe and he also claimed he had been refused a pass to the Conservative Party conference
Wikimedia CommonsEarlier this month, Linehan took aim at his comedy counterparts whom accused of “breezing over” his cancellation - citing Alan Partridge and Thick of It writer Armando Ianucci as examples.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “It’s an extraordinary thing. I’m seeing Armando Ianucci this week who was a colleague of mine, I worked on a couple of shows with him and I appeared on Alan Partridge”, he said.
“I have said many times to him, ‘I have been cancelled, I’ve lost my livelihood, why do you ignore all this?’
“He is one of these people who seems to think cancel culture doesn’t exist, but he just breezes over it.
“It’s because they simply do not want to address this issue. If they acknowledge I exist, they acknowledge this issue exists. They are pretending this issue does not exist.
“I think it’s a combination of fear and I genuinely don’t think they have enough curiosity or empathy for women.”