Pleasance venue cancelled Jerry Sadowitz Edinburgh Fringe show following accusation of racism, homophobia and misogyny
Scottish comedian Jerry Sadowitz has retaliated against his critics with a lengthy statement after the Pleasance venue cancelled his Edinburgh Fringe show amid accusations of racism, homophobia and misogyny.
The American-born artist landed in hot water among fans after he was said to have made a racist comment about Prime Ministerial hopeful Rishi Sunak and was also slammed for exposing his genitals during the Friday night routine at the Pleasance at Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The Pleasance cancelled the following night’s performance after receiving “numerous complaints” and released a statement saying his content “did not align” with its values. It has since released a longer follow-up statement outlining its reasoning.
Sadowitz has responded in a Twitter post saying the venue had made a “victim” by the Pleasance doubling down on its position, that his 75-minute show had gone “pretty well” and he had “left with no hint of anything going wrong.”
“In addition to now being told there were multiple walkouts and ‘abuse of staff’ my act is now being cheapened and simplified as unsafe, homophobic, misogynistic and racist.
He argued he wasn’t British comic Jim Davidson and a lot of “thought” goes into his performance.
“I am offended by those who, having never seen me before, HEAR words being shouted in the first five minutes before storming out without LISTENING to the material which I am stupid enough to believe is funny, sometimes important and worth saying,” he retorted.
He also acknowledged exposing his genitals, saying his acts contained “a lot of silly, exaggerated irony and nonsense, real fake and exaggerated anger and bile, and even getting my d*** out is for the purpose of the funny line which follows it.”