The organisers of the Edinburgh Fringe have resisted calls to cancel a comedy show by Amanda Knox, allowing the production to go ahead despite objections. Knox is the American woman who was convicted and later acquitted of the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher, a case that has followed her for years.
Kercher was killed nearly 20 years ago in Italy, and Knox was convicted of her murder before being acquitted in 2015. In the time since, Knox has spoken repeatedly about the scrutiny and criticism she has continued to face, which forms part of the backdrop to the show she has now brought to Edinburgh.
The show is called Cartwheel, a title that references claims she did a cartwheel in a police station while the investigation was still underway. Knox has said the performance is about how she was wrongly vilified in connection with Meredith's murder, framing it as her own account of what she went through.
Pressed on whether the material could be distressing for the victim's family, Knox said she could not speak to what is or is not triggering for Meredith's family. She added that she had never seen the kind of scrutiny and criticism directed at a wrongly accused man that she said had been directed at her over the years.
Meredith Kercher's sister, Stephanie, pushed back strongly against the production. She said the violence surrounding the theme was not appropriate for a platform at a comedy show, and that two decades on she had hoped for more empathy around using the subject and its association with such a traumatic event in their lives.
The family has backed a petition arguing that the show is in poor taste and calling for it to be dropped from the programme. Despite that opposition, the show sold out, and the organisers of the festival chose not to pull it, leaving the decision over whether to attend to the public.
Knox's first show has now wrapped in Edinburgh, and the reaction from those who attended was mixed. Some in the audience gave a standing ovation and described it as powerful and important, while the wider debate over whether the festival should have given her a platform for the material continued afterwards.