November 10, 2007
New law could make gay jokes illegal
The right to crack jokes or be rude about homosexuals could fall victim to new government laws to stamp out “homophobic” behaviour, Rowan Atkinson, the Blackadder star warned yesterday.
# Attacking elderly is a hate crime, courts told
Matt Lucas in Little Britain
The only gay in the village: Matt Lucas in a scene from Little Britain
Atkinson, who mounted a successful campaign in 2004 to water down legislation aimed at criminalising expressions of religious hatred, has returned to the fray to defend the art of gay leg-pulling.
His concern is that Labour ministers are so obsessed with creating laws to stop people being rude about each other that they are putting in danger the right to free speech and, equally dear to his heart, the comedian’s craft.
In a letter to a newspaper he accused ministers of filling their legislative programme with measures that have “serious implications for freedom of speech, humour and creative expression”.
Atkinson was referring to measures in the Criminal Justice Bill, currently passing through Parliament, which could mean people who stir up hatred against homosexuals being put in prison for up to seven years.
He said the Government measures, which could be expanded to cover hatred against disabled or transgendered people, seemed to be “infinitely extendable”.
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