Scottish comedians say hate crime law risk dangerous self-promotion

Mark Meechan - also known as Count Dankula - has amassed a large following since his conviction under the Communications Act

Concerns that the act could be used to stifle comedic expression were raised in the media after police training material was revealed showing that the offence of “stirring up hatred” could be communicated “through public performance of a play”. “I think we’ll probably get the odd person complaining, and I think there’ll be the odd comedian almost purposefully going out of their way to skate as close to the wind as they can.

Paisley-based comedian Liam Farrelly hopes the courts will take account of the potential for people to try to use the law for self-promotion: “I don’t think any comedian should be particularly worried about getting prosecuted under this because pretty much all that’s guaranteeing is that you’ll have an audience.

“Anyone who runs a comedy club knows that if you’re upsetting a good chunk of your audience, they’re not going to come back. There aren’t really any comedians being racist or saying anything horrible, if anything, there’s more politicians.”

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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