Jimmy Carr: Questions raised over if comedian should perform at Sheffield City Hall where Roy Chubby Brown was banned

The 8-out-of-10 Cats host, who is known for dark humour and shock takes, is booked to perform at the taxpayer funded City Trust venue on March 26 as part of his ‘Terribly Funny’ tour.

It comes as Mr Carr’s Netflix programme, ‘His Dark Material’, sparked fury this week for making light of the deaths of Travellers during the Holocaust, calling them a “positive”.

Support charity The Traveller Movement called the routine “truly disturbing”, while the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said it was "absolutely appalled". The programme was released on Netflix at Christmas time.

Now, comparisons have been made between how Mr Carr has been invited to play at the City Hall as opposed to another shock humourist, Roy Chubby Brown, who in 2021 was banned from performing there.

‘Chubby’, real name Royston Vasey, was due to appear at the venue in January this year, but in August 2021, Sheffield City Trust (SCT) decided to cancel the gig, citing the show “did not reflect the charitable objectives of the trust”.

In his career, Brown’s routines have often targeted ethnic groups and he has been labeled racist and homophobic by critics. A Sheffield council debate held last year over the cancellation heard some routines have “gratuitously offensive” content against BAME people and Muslims.

The discussion over Jimmy Carr’s Netflix programme this week has drawn comparisons online to Roy Chubby Brown’s stylings.

One user, @JosefKFret, said if Sheffield City Trust played one and not the other the “double standards will be seen from space”.

User @MissPrints_89 wrote: “Hi @SheffCityHall @SheffCityTrust, why are you platforming someone making vile racist jokes about genocide? This has no place anywhere but especially not in a city which prides itself on being compassionate and inclusive.”

In Sheffield, the Liberal Democrats were very critical of banning Roy Chubby Brown’s show, and asked at the time if other comedians who tell offensive jokes will also be booted.

After 42,000 people signed a petition in support of ‘Chubby’, Labour councillor Abtisam Mohamed spoke out against the show, saying: “Racism is racism, you cannot get away from that whether it’s a comedian or not. Any argument about free speech does not change that fundamental position.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Shaffaq Mohammed questioned whether comedians’ shows should be cancelled, saying: “We live in a liberal society with individual freedoms and part of that is to go and watch a comedy act behind closed doors

“My question is where do we go from here? Who would we ban next, because some people are offended by the Prime Minister or the former leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn so does that mean they will no longer also be allowed to come and address people at the City Hall?”

Sheffield City Trust has been contacted for a comment.

Betweeen 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinto people were murdered by the Nazi regime, according to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has meanwhile suggested the Government could legislate to stop comedy people find offensive being broadcasted on streaming platforms.

"We're already looking at future legislation to bring into scope those sort of comments," she told the BBC.