Stephanie Kercher, sister of murdered Meredith Kercher, has launched a petition to cancel Amanda Knox's stand-up show 'Cartwheel' at the Edinburgh Fringe, saying she 'cannot fathom' how Knox is joking about rape and murder. Knox was convicted in 2009 of Meredith's murder but was later acquitted after spending two years in jail.
Pain turned into laughter
Stephanie said: 'Imagine 20 years after Meredith's death, your pain is turned into someone else's laughter.' She added: 'My sister's tragedy is being used to debut a comedy show this weekend in Edinburgh of all places by the very person who was questioned and taken to the legal system by Italian prosecution.'
Stephanie acknowledged freedom of speech but argued that Knox is still using Meredith's name to support herself. She said: '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.'
Petition gains momentum
The petition, titled '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 this weekend. Sally Alington, the petition's creator, said she has a personal connection to the Kercher family and called the performance 'distasteful and disrespectful'. She urged organisers from the Gilded Balloon and the Fringe Festival to cancel the shows.
A spokeswoman for Amanda Knox defended the performance, saying the petition made 'false assumptions and mischaracterises the show'. She 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.'
Gilded Balloon responds
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.'
Stephanie Kercher described her sister as 'a very clever and witty person' who 'absolutely would not find comedy surrounding these issues funny'. She added: 'She was a girl's girl who you could rely on and would very much be the strong courageous woman today.'
