Adelaide Fringe Festival won't cancel show 'Come Heckle Christ' despite complaints from Christian Democratic Party

Updated

Adelaide Fringe Festival organisers say they will not cancel a Melbourne comedian's show that has come under fire as being anti-Christian.

Josh Ladgrove's one-man show, Come Heckle Christ, will feature at the festival later this month despite more than a dozen official complaints.

The show begins with Ladgrove, who has long hair and a beard, arriving on stage in flowing robes and sticky taped to a makeshift crucifix.

However, the comedian says the show is not a commentary on religion.

"The show is just an opportunity for the audience to come along and heckle an idiot - that's me - for an hour," he said.

"It's an entirely improvised show; there is no script, there is no premise, there's no preconceived idea of what needs to be said.

"It absolutely does not have to be about religion or Christianity or Jesus; it's simply a means to an end and a catchy title."

Ladgrove says he performed the show at last year's Melbourne Fringe Festival without complaint and is surprised at the reaction ahead of the Adelaide shows.

"I didn't think that Jesus was a particularly controversial topic," he said.

"I didn't think it was something that was so sensitive that it was off limits.

"Surely if we can't poke fun at religion and if we can't exercise our freedom of speech, then what's the point of being a free democratic society?"

Festival resists calls to cancel 'shameful' performance

However, Reverend Fred Nile from the Christian Democratic Party in New South Wales has taken to Twitter to query why the South Australian Government and BankSA were supporting "anti-Christian hate".

He says "free speech does not justify blasphemy" and has urged people to email both the State Government and BankSA and ask them to stop the show.

Some unhappy punters have lashed out at the show on Facebook pages run by the festival and BankSA, saying they are "disgusted" that Ladgrove's "shameful" show was included in the festival.

Others have shown support for the show, saying it represents "free expression".

In a statement, a BankSA spokesperson said: "We acknowledge and respect concerns expressed about this show, and have passed those concerns to fringe organisers.

"BankSA provides its support to the fringe as an event which has broad appeal to South Australians and visitors."

Adelaide Fringe Festival director Greg Clarke says people should make up their own minds about the act.

"Adelaide Fringe is an open-access fringe festival and what that means is that anyone can present their work in the Adelaide Fringe," he said.

"We don't curate the festival. I don't program the festival and this is the way the Fringe has been run now for over 50 years.

"It does concern me that people are targeting organisations. They can't cancel the show; I just don't know what people are hoping to gain from that."

Topics: performance-art, contemporary-art, arts-and-entertainment, carnivals-and-festivals, religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, adelaide-5000, melbourne-3000, sa, vic, australia

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