Free Fringe festival show pulled after controversial 'Diddy Party' show

Mark O’Keefe and Richy Sheehy had been performing the Diddy Party show as part of the Free Fringe before a spate of complaints over the show’s poster. It depicted Sean Combs, better known as P Diddy, shirtless and with a baby oil necklace - a reference to the disgraced rapper’s recent trial for people trafficking.

The rapper was convicted on two counts of transportation for prostitution of his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, and another woman, known as "Jane" during the trial.

The show had been held at Bar 50 as part of the Free Fringe programme of events, however it was pulled on Saturday morning after complaints, according to Sheehy.

He said: “At 8am on Saturday morning we woke up to the news that the show had been taken offline, and that we needed to have a meeting with the venue and Fringe promoters to address complaints that had been made about the show.

The show was hosted at Bar 50 at AO Hostels on the Cowgate | Google Maps

“We had been contacted by a WhatsApp message and email that morning, asking us to come for said meeting to address complaints made. We met on Saturday morning about this.

“After the meeting we submitted the new show, we were informed that we were not allowed to have anything that could be deemed controversial in the name / blurb / image. The new show 'Bad Boys Comedy Party' did not go on sale until 4.30pm on Sunday.”

However, Sheehy said that the show has been misunderstood, with the perpetrators being the butt of the joke.

He said: “I would ask people to be not judge something unless you actually know it's content, try coming to the show before making assumptions, the show was an attack on the perpetrators of heinous acts, and it served to give a space and environment for comedians who do material on these issues, to find the engaged crowd that they deserve seeing their material.

“I would ask people to try to create, instead of focusing on destroying that which they do not understand.”

The Fringe Society said that the show had not been cancelled, but had been renamed.

Bar 50 has been approached for comment.