Comedian Andrew Lawrence tweeted racist ‘jokes’ about England’s penalties – and now his shows are being cancelled
Andrew Lawrence #AndrewLawrence
Comedians often deliver provocative and eyebrow-raising material, but when one comes up with an obviously racist “joke” they should expect unrelenting fury not guffaws.
Right-wing comic Andrew Lawrence clearly doesn’t mind causing profound offence, however, as his tweets in the wake of England’s Euro 2020 defeat horifyingly reveal.
The 41-year-old standup posted a series of abhorrent messages after the Three Lions lost the longed-for cup to rivals Italy in a gut-wrenching penalty shoot-out.
Marcus Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and Bukayo Saka, 19, all stepped up at the crucial moment but were unsuccessful in their shots on goal.
Lawrence responded by writing on Twitter: “All I’m saying is, the white guys scored” – in reference to captain Harry Kane, 27, and seasoned centre-back Harry Maguire, 28, who both netted the ball.
Then, rather than apologise following a swift backlash to his comments, Lawrence wrote in a separate post: “I can see that this has offended a lot of people, and I’m sorry that black guys are bad at penalties.”
Referring to Rashford and his free school meals’ campaign, he then added: “I’d rather he practiced his penalties, and the kids had gone hungry.”
He topped it all off with: “Equality, diversity, s*** penalties.”
His account has since been deleted but screen grabs of his messages have been widely shared across the platform. Fellow comics and public figures were quick to voice their horror at his posts, while a number of comedy venues have cancelled shows he had booked with them.
Here’s just a handful of those who have axed his act:
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And here’s what other commentators have said about his behaviour:
Despite the sudden disappearance of his Twitter account Lawrence has continued to make use of his Facebook, posting a video titled ‘Endemic racism in English football, a view from academia’.
The clip was shared to his page at around midday on Monday and sees him mimicking a posh-voiced university professor offering an analyisis of Sunday’s match.
In it, he says: “After the FA and England team chose to make an ostentatious display of taking the knee in support of Black Lives Matter at the start of every match in this tournament, it was somewhat unfortunate that the three players to miss a penalty in the final of the competition were themselves black. Why did they miss their penalties? Because of racism.”
We could go on and quote more from his sketch, but frankly his continued mockery of the brave young sportsmen makes us feel physically sick.
Lawrence has made a career out of attacking “woke libtards” since penning a notorious social media post several years ago calling immigration an “unmitigated disaster of immigration”, Chortle reports.
In a lengthy social media tirade back in 2014, he also lambasted panel shows for using “ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians” and “taking a supercilious, moralising tone, pandering to the ever-creeping militant political correctness of the BBC with their frankly surreal diversity targets.”
Despite this, he has won a number of awards over the years, including the BBC’s New Comedy Award winner in 2004, and the Chortle Award for Best UK Headline Act in 2010.
He has also appeared on several TV and radio programmes, including ‘Live at the Apollo’ in 2011, BBC 1’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow in 2010, and Channel 4’s Stand Up for the Week. And although the accolades have dried up somewhat since his 2014 outburst, he also enjoyed his own BBC Radio 4 Sitcome titled ‘There is No Escape’ in 2015.
Indy100 has contacted his agent for comment.