The hoo-ha surrounding a Roy Chubby Brown gig in Sheffield has attracted the attention of local Labour politicians, eager to jump on the woke bandwagon. Mr Brown, aka Royston Vasey, has been performing at Sheffield City Hall for decades, but his January 2022 slot has been cancelled by the venue's management. Andrew Snelling, chairman of Sheffield City Trust, said of the decision: "We understand that some people will be disappointed with our decision but we must uphold the standards and values that we promote and expect across our venues".
Labour politicians have since come out in support of the ban. The MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough wrote directly to Snelling to express her support for the decision. Gill Furniss (pictured above right) posted the letter on her social media accounts to maximise her virtue signal (see below).
Cllr Terry Fox, the Labour leader of Sheffield City Council, echoed her sentiments. But where were their howls of anguish in 2019 or 2018, or any of the previous years that Vasey has performed in Sheffield?
Once again the party appears to be at odds with public opinion. While many people expressed distaste at Chubby's material, they supported his right to perform. "If people don't like his comedy, then don't buy a ticket" - it's really that simple. At the time of writing a Change petition has garnered almost 30,000 signatures and a protest will be held outside the venue on Friday. The comedian has attracted support from a wide variety of political figures and commentators, including a local Muslim councillor. Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed, of the Lib Dems, spoke to local newspaper The Star:
"This is akin to cold war soviets where they would control what people saw and what they watched and what they read. We don't live in that. We live in a liberal society and people have individual freedom to choose to live the life they want and as part of that, they can choose to go watch a comedy show behind closed doors where no children are allowed. It's the start of a very slippery slope. Which comedian will be deemed not to be appropriate to come to Sheffield? Would they move on to banning books and DVD's in libraries next? Would people be banned from watching Roy Chubby Brown on YouTube next? Would they stop people from listening to rap music because clearly some of the lyrics can and are offensive? Where is this going to stop? Our law is to defend the individual's right to choose and always go against any government that tries to dictate to people what's good or bad".
Here, here.
Andrew Doyle also used his platform on GB News to criticise the move.
Chubby Brown also released his own lengthy statement in response to the ban.
