Amanda Knox’s Edinburgh Fringe show should be cancelled, Meredith Kercher’s family has argued.
Ms Knox was twice wrongfully convicted of killing her roommate, and she is set to perform at the Fringe festival in what has been billed as her “finally getting around to being furious about the whole wrongful-imprisonment thing.”
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Ms Kercher was raped and killed in the Italian city of Perugia by Rudy Guede in 2007, at the age of just 21.
The case gained international headlines after Ms Knox was convicted of her murder twice, before ultimately being cleared of wrongdoing by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015.
Ms Knox is preparing to perform at the Fringe festival, which runs from August 7-17 at the Gilded Balloon venue, with her show named “Cartwheel”.
The show’s blurb adds: “How on earth will she explain it all to her daughter, who is now asking to hear the story of ‘Mama Goes to Italy’?”
Stephanie Kercher, sister of Meredith, has urged the Gilded Balloon to cancel the performances.
She said: “Imagine 20 years after Meredith’s death, your pain is turned into someone else’s laughter,” as she accused Ms Knox of using her sister’s death “to debut a comedy show.”
She continued to The National: “I’m very aware that in high-profile cases everyone has their own opinions on guilt and innocence and I also agree with freedom of speech.
“However, when someone is still using Meredith’s name to support themselves, and furthermore, when a comedy is linked to an individual case and individual person, I cannot fathom how rape and murder can be laughed about and I cannot understand how one person’s behaviour at the police station can be the subject of the comedy show.
“Meredith, my sister, was a very clever and witty person and loved by so many for those very reasons. She was a girl’s girl who you could rely on and would very much be the strong, courageous woman today.”
Ms Knox has stated that she thinks Meredith would have found the show funny, to which Ms Kercher responded: “She absolutely would not find comedy surrounding these issues funny and I believe this goes against everything that inspirational women are still fighting for today.”
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Sally Alington, a long-time friend of the Kercher family, has launched a petition, calling for the show to be cancelled.
It has reached more than 1,000 signatures at the time of writing.
Ms Alington said: “To see this distasteful and disrespectful performance being given the green light to go ahead under the label of a ‘stand-up comedy’ with ‘adult’ themes when we are talking about the rape and murder of a young woman totally beggars belief.
“This isn’t just wholly inappropriate and hurtful to family and friends of Meredith, this goes far beyond that.
“It normalises and trivialises violence against women.
“I am urging the organisers from the Gilded Balloon and the Fringe Festival to adjust their moral compasses, do the right thing and cancel these shows.”
A spokesman for the Gilded Balloon said: “The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an open-access festival. As a Fringe venue, we provide a platform for a wide range of voices, in line with the Fringe’s long-standing commitment to freedom of expression (within the confines of the law) and ensure our audiences can make informed choices.
“Artists and companies choose to participate at our venue and take on the financial and creative responsibility for their work.
“Amanda’s show is a one-woman piece exploring themes of motherhood, presented independently by her.”
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