He said nope.
A University in London has a behavioural agreement contract which it is asking performers to sign before they are allowed to perform on stage.
Comedian Konstantin Kisin was asked to sign the agreement and told about the universities “no tolerance policy” on a raft of issues including sexism, transphobia and homophobia.
The unpaid gig was supposed to be hosted by the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) at the University of London on behalf of university society Unicef on Campus, which has since apologised for the contract and said it “believes fully in freedom of speech”.
I just received an invitation to perform *comedy* at a university…
The title of this “contract” nearly made me puke. @UnleashedComedy pic.twitter.com/4tUPCFwTLG
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) December 10, 2018
Konstantin Kisin shared the contract with Radio 1’s Newsbeat and said that it nearly made him “puke”. He then posted the contract on social media saying,
“I just think it reflects an attitude among a group of people, people at university particularly, where it seems that they have become places of indoctrination rather than learning,
“Students are being taught to prevent offence rather than to seek truth and pursue experiences.
“Universities used to be all about that, but now it seems they’re places where students are being taught to be woke.
“I think it reflects a broader issue, where increasingly there are people who value safety, or what they perceive to be safety.”
The full list of banned topics listed by the organisers were “racism, sexism, classism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia or anti-religion or anti-atheism”.
The contract said: “It does not mean that these topics cannot be discussed. But it must be done in a respectful and non-abusive way.”
Apologises
Unicef on Campus told Newsbeat, “Given that Unicef is a children’s charity, we wanted to make sure it was an appropriate event for the cause. We would never wish to impose that guests would have to agree to anything they do not believe in.
“We apologise for the misunderstanding.”
