Scottish comedian speaks out against new hate crime laws

A Scottish comedian has spoken out against new laws to tackle hate crime saying, “so much for the land of FREEDOM”.

What is the new act?

Coming into force on 1 April, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act is an extension of The Public Order Act 1986 which only recognised offences under racial hatred.

Introduced by the SNP and passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2021, the new bill extended the offence of stirring up hatred, recognising the characteristics of disability, religion, age, sexual orientation and transgender identity – with the ‘variations in sex characteristic’ relating to the ‘diverse physical and biological’ characteristics of the body being protected.

In 2022-23, more than five-thousand incidents of hate crime where reported across Scotland with the last three years having the highest recorded numbers since 2013-14.

Cancelling Comedy

These laws have caused worries for comedy performers as media reports of Police Scotland training records say that the offence of stirring up hatred could be applied “through public performance for a play” and hateful content could be shared on “podcasts and social media”.

Dumfries born comedian and broadcaster, Leo Kearse has been outspoken about his issues with the act, he has told the Glasgow Standard that “there is no protection for speech on stage”.

The 47-year-old has appeared on GB News to talk about his reservations with the legislation and recently uploaded a YouTube video to his channel – which has more than 97,000 subscribers – discussing his opinions in full.

The 15-minute video titled ‘Comedian on Scotland’s Insane Hate Crime Act and Humza’s Hate Monster’, has been viewed by 53,000 people.

 Within the video, Kearse said: “You can be prosecuted for a joke cracked in the privacy of your own home – let’s hope the SNP aren’t monitoring your Alexa! And police training says the hate speech may occur as part of a stage performance, so comedy is going to be absolutely c***ed.

“Comedians won’t even be able to ask why the chicken crossed the road in case it’s offensive to vegans. And the police could swoop on a pantomime and cart away the ugly sisters for misgendering Cinderella.”

Most of Leo’s content cover’s controversial topics, hitting out against ‘wokeism’ and Scottish politics with a comedic twist – he says that this new legislation would restrict the work of “boundary-pushing” performers such as Billy Connolly and Frankie Boyle.

He said: “Comedians don’t need to be legislated by puritanical speech crime laws; we already perform in front of a jury – the audience.  We’re not spouting hate speech for the simple reason that audiences are generally nice people and wouldn’t accept hate speech.

“And it’s not just the comedian making the joke who’ll be at risk – promoters, writers, venues and directors can all be prosecuted over what the comedian says, piling on layers of self-censorship.”

On Monday 1 April, Leo is planning on preforming a gig to speak out against the bill but currently no venues have agreed to host.

It’s not just Scottish Comedians who have criticized the legislation as US podcaster Joe Rogan, billionaire businessman Elon Musk and Harry Potter author JK Rowling have all slammed Humza Yousaf’s bill.

For the bill

Many charities and organisations who support transgender rights have encouraged the development’s to hate crime legislation in Scotland.

What The Trans is a UK news outlet and podcast for the transgender community, speaking to people across the country.

A spokesperson for the podcast, said: “What The Trans welcomes the Hate Crime and Public Disorder (Scotland) Act and definitely believe that it will have a positive impact on the safety of Trans People in Scotland.”

Speaking after the bill passed in 2021, First Minister – then Justice Secretary – Humza Yousaf, said: “Parliament has sent a strong and clear message to victims, perpetrators, communities and to wider society that offences motivated by prejudice will be treated seriously and will not be tolerated – I am delighted Holyrood has backed this powerful legislation that is fitting for the Scotland we live in.”