Graham Linehan: New venue for Father Ted writer's cancelled gig

An alternative venue has been found for the Edinburgh stand up show cancelled for having Father Ted writer Graham Linehan on its bill.

Leith Arches said it pulled the gig because his views on transgender issues did not "align with our overall values".

Mr Linehan has threatened legal action if the venue refuses to reverse its decision and apologise.

Gig organisers Comedy Unleashed did not reveal the name of the new venue.

Ticket holders will be emailed the location of the show tomorrow afternoon.

Co-founder Andy Shaw told BBC News they received several offers after appealing for alternative venues which "believe in artistic freedom".

"We have found what we think is a really appropriate venue which will become obvious on Thursday night why we think it is particularly appropriate," he added.

• Father Ted writer show cancelled over gender views

Mr Linehan was one of five stand-ups due to appear at Leith Arches on Thursday night under the banner "edgy comedy is back".

His appearance was initially kept under wraps with organisers only describing him as a "surprise famous cancelled comedian" on the bill.

But the venue called off the entire show within hours of his identity being confirmed on Tuesday, saying they had not been made aware of the line-up in advance.

"We have made the decision to cancel this show as we are an inclusive venue and this does not align with our overall values," they said in a post on Instagram.

"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," they later added.

Graham Linehan, pictured at a Let Women Speak rally in Belfast earlier this year

Mr Linehan told TalkTV on Wednesday he was considering legal action against the venue.

"I actually suggest that the Leith Arches reverse its course because they have said enough online for an easy win in the courts," he added.

"So if they apologise and put the gig on, I'll say no more about it but otherwise I'm going to be looking at legal action."

Mr Linehan is often at the centre of heated rows over trans issues and women's rights on social media, with opponents accusing him of transphobia.

In a BBC Newsnight interview in 2020 he compared the medical treatment of transgender teenagers with puberty blockers with Nazi human experimentation.

Following the cancellation of his Edinburgh show, he told TalkTV: "The most important view I have is that it is a crime against humanity to tell children they may have been born in the wrong body.

"I feel that the views that I and JK Rowling and [author] Helen Joyce have expressed on this matter have been completely vindicated because Mermaids is now under statutory investigation and the Tavistock is closed".

"The other views I have is that [transgender comedian] Eddie Izzard can dress how he likes but if he goes into a woman's toilet with my daughter I will pull him out by his ankles," Mr Linehan added.

The Charity Commission is investigating governance and management issues at youth support charity Mermaids, and the Tavistock NHS gender clinic for children in England and Wales is due to be replaced by two regional hubs after the service was heavily criticised in an independent review.

Joanna Cherry appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last week

Earlier this year another Edinburgh venue, The Stand, cancelled a scheduled Fringe festival appearance by SNP MP Joanna Cherry after staff said they were not comfortable with her views on transgender issues.

But the comedy club later reinstated it and apologised, admitting the cancellation was "unfair and constituted unlawful discrimination against Ms Cherry".

The In Conversation With... Joanna Cherry event took place last week.

Ms Cherry, who is also a lawyer, later posted that the Linehan case "looks like a pretty clear case of belief discrimination" and hit out at "more petulant cancellation".

However, NUS Scotland president Ellie Gomersall, who has campaigned for a change to gender laws, backed Leith Arches.

She told BBC News: "This is about the comedy club's right to decide who it is they are platforming, who it is they are promoting, who it is they are allowing their space to be used by.

"I have to say that Graham Linehan and the way he expresses his views are pretty deplorable and it's right that any comedy club would reject someone who expresses those sorts of views in the way Linehan does."

'Hateful content'

Mr Linehan co-created the Channel 4 comedy Father Ted and later wrote Black Books and The IT Crowd.

An episode of The IT Crowd from 2008 called The Speech has been criticised over its transgender plot line.

In 2020 Channel 4 removed it from their streaming service saying that "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".

Mr Linehan was later involved in a number of acrimonious social media disputes with trans activists, and in 2020 was permanently suspended from Twitter which claimed he had breached rules on "hateful content".

In an emotional BBC interview last year, the Dublin-born writer told Nolan Live he had been unfairly targeted over his views, losing him work and contributing to the break-up of his marriage.