The blogger who admitted to defacing the memorial to murdered comedian Eurydice Dixon has been ordered to pay around £10,000. The man identifies as an ‘anti-feminist’, perhaps because he doesn’t know the word ‘misogynist’ will not face jail but pay the costs of cleaning up his vandalism and will be assessed for a community service sentence.
The 29-year-old vandal, who once tried stand-up comedy, told magistrates he had defaced the memorial to annoy feminists and make the news. Apparently now he fears for his safety having had his image and name publicised in the media, as he’d previously wished. However, according to his defence lawyer, he is not remorseful for his actions.
The comedian Eurydice Dixon was raped and murdered as she walked home from a gig in June. It is unsettling, to say the least, that a man would be so incensed by feminism that he would try to exploit a young woman’s gruesome death for his own gains. Yet women are still having their claims that the comedy world is often hostile to them doubted, ridiculed and dismissed.
For instance, since Eurydice Dixon’s murder, the comedy world has been mostly concerned about whether Louis CK can have a viable career post sexually assaulting some of his fellow comedians, whose careers are apparently unimportant. Which I think demonstrates why we can do without this guy’s graffiti, aside from it being a vile act, women are given the message on a daily basis that they aren’t yet wholly welcome in comedy.
To my mind, this highlights the sad need for schemes such as the Home Safe Collective and organisations such as Funny Women (hello) to make comedy a safer, more inclusive space for all comedians. Everybody should be able to go to work without the worry of how they will get home, or how their colleagues will treat them. The sooner we give greater value to live comedy and recognition to different comedians needs, the better.
