The scandal surrounding Luke Mockridge’s jokes about athletes with disabilities is having more and more professional consequences for the comedian. Not only did Sat.1 cancel a planned show of his before it was broadcast, but now a live performance by the 35-year-old has also been cancelled.
Mockridge was scheduled to perform on Sunday evening (September 8) in Paderborn as part of the comedy tour “Nightwash.” This is a show that sees comedians perform in laundromats in various cities.
Luke Mockridge is removed from the program
Christian Stork, managing director of the Schlosspark- und Lippesee-Gesellschaft, confirmed the cancellation of Mockridge’s appearance to the “Westfalen Blatt”. However, no concrete reason was given. There was also no statement on Instagram. It is unclear whether Mockridge himself may have even wanted his appearance to be canceled.
But the reason is obvious: In the podcast “Die Deutschen” Mockridge joked about the Paralympics: “There are people without legs and arms, you throw them into a pool – and whoever drowns last wins,” said the comedian. Mockridge apologized on his social media channels, but by then the shitstorm about his anti-disabled statements was already raging.
Outrage over ableist jokes
Numerous celebrities sharply criticized Mockridge. “It’s unbelievable that there are still people who say such inhumane crap and simply put down disabled people!”, said Kristina Vogel, an athlete who has been in a wheelchair since 2018.
