ADELAIDE, Australia, February 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After backlash over a comedy show urging attendees to “come heckle Christ,” among over controversial events, organizers of the Adelaide Fringe festival have gone in to damage control mode.
The festival released a statement this week distancing themselves and their sponsors from any responsibility for specific shows, including “Come Heckle Christ.” They state that the Fringe is an “open access, non-curated festival” platform where the artists self-register, self-rate, and cover the costs of presenting their work. According to the organizers, sponsors only provide funding for the overall event and it is up to the public to choose what they will see.
The statement made no mention of the role of the tax-deductible Adelaide Fringe Cultural Fund, which aims “to ensure there will always be daring and diverse contemporary work in the Adelaide Fringe that attracts new audiences and engages them in new and interesting ways.”
Local government bodies in Adelaide are already looking to take action after the unprecedented outcry over the planned performance of Come Heckle Christ. Speaking to LifeSiteNews, Councillor David Speirs of the City of Marion said, “It's been quite unusual to have so much correspondence about this.”
While Come Heckle Christ is not being performed in any of their council-owned facilities, other Adelaide Fringe performances are. The idea of immediately cancelling venue bookings is viewed as being unfair to those other artists.
Civic leaders are looking for answers, and a motion will be put forward at the next council meeting on Tuesday, February 11, where the council will debate its future with the Fringe, with the possibility of ceasing involvement.
According to Councillor Speirs, “I think as community leaders we have a role to speak up when there are issues that offend our constituents. I have been contacted by quite a number of people raising concerns about this show, and these are concerns that I share.”
Spiers added, “Putting a block on the support wouldn't be viable for this year, but could be applied for following years.”
“As part of the council's community leadership role, they could be asking the organizers of the Fringe to be more sensible to the likely sentiments of Australians on this issue,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of assurances by organizers that Come Heckle Christ wouldn't be listed in 2015 (to regain council support), only to find a different act of the same nature on the program, he admitted that this would be difficult to guard against. “Hopefully this is a one off,” he said, noting the broad sense of dissatisfaction over the issue.
The councils in Port Adelaide Enfield and Charles Sturt are also expected to address the issue at future meetings.
Adelaide's Street Church is looking to take action, regarding the show as “an absolute blasphemy” and comparing it to the mockery received by Christ prior to his crucifixion. Speaking on local ABC Radio, Pastor Caleb Corneloup said they are planning to take artist Josh Ladgrove to court for common law blasphemy, a mechanism that still exists in Australia.
In response, Ladgrove stated that the show is very open ended, and that in an improvised performance he could possibly spend the whole hour defending Christ and therefore not constitute blasphemy. He claimed that in the earlier Melbourne performance, “the most offensive heckle of the evening was that someone spoiled the ending of Breaking Bad.”
Ladgrove stated that he had chosen the character of Jesus over other religious figures owing to the context of his upbringing, stating, “Christianity is what I know. I was a Christian, was raised a Christian. I understand it. I look like the traditional image of Jesus.”
Ladgrove had previously indicated that he would allow Street Church representatives to attend his show for free, but admitted that this may now be logistically impossible due to the event selling out. Street Church members are still hoping to gain a recording for use in court.
Contact info:
An e-mail form for the principal sponsor, BankSA, can be found here.
Adelaide City Council
[email protected]
Mayor Sam Johnson
Port Augusta City Council
[email protected]
Premier Jay Weatherill MP
[email protected]