Amanda Knox defends comedy show after 40,000 people sign petition to have it cancelled
Amanda Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher, has defended her new comedy stage show after it was met with backlash.
Knox hit headlines around the world in 2007 after she was arrested and wrongly convicted for the murder of her British roommate Kercher in Perugia, Italy.
Knox served almost four years in prison before her conviction was overturned in 2015 and she was exonerated.
This month, Knox has headed to Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she will perform her show Cartwheel, named after an enduring myth that she did cartwheels in the police station after Kercher’s death.
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Cartwheel has been marketed as about a woman ‘approaching forty, juggling motherhood and finally getting around to being furious about the whole wrongful-imprisonment thing. Especially when half the world is telling her to get over it, while the other half still thinks she's guilty.’
However, the show was condemned by Kercher’s sister Stephanie, who told the BBC last week: “What I would say [to Knox] is to think about the family here, think about her friends and to turn the tables if it was your sister that this had happened to, because I know you have a sister as well."
She continued by calling on Andy Burnham to intervene, adding: “I think that if it was a generic theme, as many comedy shows are, even when they're pushing the boundaries, it would be different.
"Because this is associated with an individual case and individual person, I think that's where the worry lies here for me, because who else is this going to then open up this opportunity for."
Meanwhile, a petition set up to cancel the show, titled 'Stop the Amanda Knox 'Cartwheel' performance at the Edinburgh Fringe', has received more than 40,000 signatures.
In response, Knox, now 39, shared a lengthy statement on Instagram, in which she said the show 'honours' Kercher's memory.
She wrote: “Cartwheel is a show about motherhood, raising a daughter in a world that is unfair and dangerous for women, and what it costs to be the kind of mother who tells her the truth about that.
“Neither the author of this petition nor anyone who signed it has seen Cartwheel. The petition contains many false assumptions and completely mischaracterises the show.
“Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher’s memory and calls out the violence that was done to her and to me.
“A petition to cancel a show no one has seen, on the grounds of false accusations intended to shame and vilify a wronged woman into silence, is not an argument against Cartwheel. It's a fairly precise description of what Cartwheel is about and why it deserves to exist."
She went on to say that she believed Edinburgh Fringe was 'the perfect place' for a show like hers.
“Many of the Fringe's most celebrated comedy shows tackle difficult subjects including grief, trauma, mental health, addiction, illness, identity, and politics," she continued.
"Comics rarely treat these experiences lightly or make them the butt of the joke. Instead, they use comedy as a way to explore them, creating space for audiences to engage with complex ideas, connect through shared experience, and find moments of relief, perspective and hope in subjects that might otherwise feel overwhelming.”
Knox said those who had seen her show were full of praise
In an updated posted on X after her first performance in Scotland, Knox hit back at those signing the petition without seeing her show: "Nearly 40,000 people who haven't seen my sold out show, Cartwheel, have a signed a petition to cancel it on the false claim that it normalises violence against women.
"Those who have seen it: 'respectful,' 'powerful,' 'genuinely funny.'"
Director of the Fringe Society Tony Lankester, told BBC Radio Scotland: “We’re not afraid of controversy. The decision as to whether or not [the show] goes ahead lies with herself and it lies with the venue.”
He added: “As sympathetic as we are to individual cases that crop up, and absolutely as a parent I can relate to the pain that they describe, but that can’t be a criteria, it can’t be one of the lenses that we look through.”
Claire Reid