Comedian Janey Godley sparks cancel culture debate after apologising for ‘horridly offensive’ historic tweets

A Scottish comedian is the latest figure to be embroiled in a cancel culture debate after she apologised for historic tweets which were deemed offensive.

Posting on Twitter, Janey Godley, who is famous for doing voiceovers of high profile figures like Nicola Sturgeon, apologised after old tweets resurfaced on social media in light of her being featured in new coronavirus safety adverts.

She said: “There are tweets from my past social media that are horridly offensive, I believe in progress not perfection and I am far from perfect. People have every right to go through my social media and see what values I hold and to find hurtful phrases and statements is shocking, I am deeply sorry to everyone I offended.

“Comedy is no excuse to use disgusting and hurtful words that affect people and I know many of you expected better of me. I apologise for every single word that upset people, I should have blocked and reported the accounts that threatened me and not replied with abhorrent heckles.”

The comedian added: “There are fake tweets created to damage my reputation but the ones I wrote I take responsibility for.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter ‘The Viral Democracy’

“During this pandemic, I tried to keep everyone’s spirits up and I will continue to do my best to keep that going.”

The tweets in question concern language Godley used to describe disabled people and victims of Chernobyl victims. However, in May, she also said she called the police after reportedly receiving death threats because of “fake tweets” mocked up to look like she was insulting Jewish people.

In light of the news, some people thought the comedian should be “cancelled” and that her apology was not good enough:

A Conservative MSP also wrote to an Aberdeen theatre that Godley is due to appear at, as part of a pantomime show, raising concerns about her appearance.

Douglas Lumsden wrote: “I have been contacted by many constituents who do not feel Ms Godley is an appropriate ‘star’ of a family pantomime and will be avoiding the show this year.

“Given these concerns, I would ask what checks Aberdeen Performing Arts made as to her suitability for hiring, and its position on her unacceptable references to the disabled.”

Others, however, showed Godley their support and suggested some people were being hypocritical in calling for her to be cancelled.

Godley later tweeted her thanks to those who had supported her:

Meanwhile, Godley is not the only comedian currently under fire for potentially being offensive. Roy Chubby Brown’s upcoming Sheffield gig was recently cancelled over concerns about his material. While some people have praised this decision, others have spoken out against it and a petition to reinstate it has been signed by 32,000 people.