Colin Brazier outlines 'fears' on free speech being 'eroded'

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Scottish comic Leo Kearse insisted cancel culture is “absolutely not” a myth, and is causing some artist’s real harm. Earlier this year he stood for the Glasgow Pollock constituency, in the Scottish parliament elections.

Speaking to Express.co.uk Mr Kearse said: “The comedy industry is overwhelmingly left-wing, and certainly there are people who have openly black listed me because I I’m right-wing, because I said I voted Tory.

“That means I’m a bigot and a racist and that means I shouldn’t be allowed to work.

“It’s materially affected my income. People think cancel culture is a myth and it’s absolutely not.

“I’ve been cancelled by people and it means you make less money.

“It’s unpleasant having colleagues denounce you on social media as a right-wing demagogue and things like that.”

A Savanta ComRes survey published earlier this year found 50 percent of Britons believe free speech is now “under threat”.

Just 12 percent think there is more freedom of speech in the UK than five years ago.

Mr Kearse argued the biggest named comics can survive being cancelled, but less well-known acts are more vulnerable.

He explained: “Nobody wants protesters at their comedy club.

“Once you’re big enough – if you’re Ricky Gervais, if you’re Bill Burr then you’re at a size where you’re doing your own shows and the controversy is a selling point.

“Somebody my size, I’m going round doing the clubs.

“I’m not doing tours of my own show and pulling in hundreds of people.”

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In Scotland Mr Kearse stood as a candidate for the Reclaim Party, an ‘anti-woke’ party created by actor Laurence Fox.

A unionist, he was fiercely critical of Nicola Sturgeon and the rise of nationalism in Scotland.

The comic stated: “It blows my mind! How can nationalism be progressive?

“All across Europe we’ve got the rise of these small minded parochial xenophobic nationalism.

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“You’re seeing it across Hungary, Poland. You saw it in England with the BNP.

“And now it’s happening in Scotland with the SNP but for some reason Scottish nationalism is seen as woke and progressive which it isn’t.

“It’s a horrible small minded ‘oh we are the best’, and hating on your neighbours, hating on the English.

“It’s a really toxic horrible self-defeating narrative the nationalist’s push.”

The SNP fell one short of a majority at May’s Scottish parliament elections.

However Ms Sturgeon is still demanding another referendum on taking Scotland out of the UK.

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