Amanda Knox joked about dry-humping and said the evidence in her murder trial was 'vibes' as she made her comedy debut at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Knox, who was jailed for the murder of student Meredith Kercher in 2009 but acquitted two years later, took to the stage for the first time at the Gilded Balloon. Meredith's family have heavily criticised the show, saying she was treating her rape and murder as a joke.
Comedy debut sparks backlash
Speaking to the packed room at the Fringe surrounded by children's toys, Knox said the murder was pinned on her because she was 'a little too theatre kid'. She even joked about her infamous kiss with her ex-boyfriend outside the crime scene in Italy, saying: 'Even if I had been dry-humping his leg while making awkward eye contact with the lead detective, that would make me in heat, but it wouldn't have made me a murderer.'
'Even if my nickname were murder pussy, it wouldn't make me a murderer.'
Petition to cancel show
Meredith's sister Stephanie Kercher has launched a petition to cancel Knox's stand-up show called 'Cartwheel' at the Edinburgh Fringe, claiming it treats her sister's death as entertainment. But Knox has defended the show, saying she believed that her former flatmate would have found it 'funny'.
In the show, she described Meredith as 'so much more sensible than me', before adding: 'After her murder, everyone was so intent on judging me'.
Response from Knox's team
A spokeswoman for Knox defended the performance, saying the petition made 'false assumptions and mischaracterises the show'. The petition, entitled 'Stop the Amanda Knox "Cartwheel" performance at the Edinburgh Fringe', has gathered almost 1,000 signatures in 48 hours ahead of Knox's show debuting in Edinburgh this weekend.
Gilded Balloon said it had no comment beyond a statement given last month in defence of hosting the show. It 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.'
A spokeswoman for Knox said: '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 false assumptions and mischaracterises the show. Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher's memory. 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.'
