Who went too far: Jerry Sadowitz or those who cancelled his Edinburgh fringe show? | Brian Logan

Questions of free speech offer no simple answers, but it's clear that this is a watershed moment in comedy

If we don't defend free speech, we live in tyranny. That's the tenor of the coverage following the attack on Salman Rushdie. So is it also our take when a comedian uses extreme racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny" onstage? That's the question surrounding the cancellation of Jerry Sadowitz's show on the Edinburgh fringe, and - spoiler alert - I, a mere comedy critic, am not certain of the answer.

What I do know is that this marks a watershed moment. Many of the earlier cancel culture v comedy furores have involved powerful acts (your Dave Chappelles, Ricky Gervaises and Jimmy Carrs) not being cancelled at all. I'm being silenced, they yell, halfway through their Netflix specials.

Brian Logan is the Guardian's comedy critic and the artistic director of Camden People's theatre

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