I will not stop speaking up for women’s rights | Biddy O’Loughlin

I despise cancel culture but I don’t blame the pub owner for my Adelaide gig getting canned, writes comedian Biddy O’Loughlin.

I thought I was a casualty in the culture war.

It was a hard pill to swallow and it often got caught in my throat, but I had accepted my fate in this battle, in the hope that my daughter wouldn’t have to fight it.

I never backed down on my belief that a woman is an adult human and I never stopped saying that our sex based rights mattered.

I tried to keep my chin up, joking at the open mic (the only gig I could get) that I was “regular people cancelled. You know – friends crossing the road.”

And then last Saturday I got the call that I was officially cancelled.

The daughter of well-known comedian Fiona O'Loughlin, Biddy O'Loughlin, who's also a comedian, claims the Crown and Anchor has cancelled her appearance at their Oct 15 comedy night because of her views on trans people. Picture: Instagram / biddyoloughlin

I was pulled from a regular spot at Cranker Comedy.

For the record, the guy who runs the fortnightly gig did not want to cancel me but had been pressured by Crown and Anchor management, who had been pressured by woke staff.

Being officially cancelled is way better than being regular people cancelled, which is the distressing position most Diggers in this war on wokeness find themselves.

I got lucky.

While I was initially devastated, some very good things have come out of this sad situation.

To be clear, I detest cancel culture.

I think it is a vicious, cowardly way to silence and intimidate your opponents.

But thanks to media and social media coverage, the objection to my appearance at a comedy gig has led to unwavering support from politicians and activists, several podcast appearances and a growing fanbase.

While my recently sold out show has now also been cancelled by the venue thanks to the “be kind” brigade threatening the struggling business, the show will go on – just at a different, probably much bigger, venue.

I can’t prove all the opportunities I’ve missed out on for defending women’s rights but even if this curse had not been turned into a blessing, take comfort, dear reader, that I was never going to shut up.

Because to do so would have cost me far more than money and fake friends – it would have cost me the Australia I want to see, one where women have rights, we all have freedom of speech and comedy is great again.