A controversial comedy troupe known as the Danger Cats will make their way to Vancouver Island in a couple of weeks for three scheduled performances.
A previously scheduled Danger Cats show was cancelled in Vancouver back in February because of a T-shirt the group sold online. The shirt showed convicted serial killer Robert Pickton holding bacon, with the text “Over 50 Flavours of Hookery Smoked Bacon” written underneath.
Pickton targeted sex workers and vulnerable women in the Downtown Eastside, and many of his victims were Indigenous women.
“We were shocked! We we’re absolutely shocked at the friendship centre. I remember the day very clearly,” said Michele Nault Mortimer from the Victoria Friendship Centre and a former health support manager for the National Inquiry on Missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW).
Watch the full story below:
Mortimer says hearing the comedy group was coming to the Island was triggering.
She added that she and her colleagues were stunned when they learned about the shirts and she is surprised that, after all the backlash, the troupe is still getting gigs.
“This Robert Pickton farm situation, there are still so many unanswered questions. What people are left with is their imagination, and this kind of thing plays into the worst kind of imagination. It’s frankly a form of torture,” said Mortimer.
According to the comedy trio’s website, they are scheduled to perform in Comox, Nanaimo and Victoria at the end of May and the beginning of June. Locations for those events have been made private and only ticket holders will know where the performance is on the day of.
CHEK News did reach out to the Danger Cats for comment, but did not receive a response.
Sasha Mark is a Cree-Métis stand-up comedian who says it’s good community members are voicing their concerns, and that it’s a good way to keep comedy clubs and venues accountable.
“For me, I think a lot of these folks that are wanting to go to these shows definitely need some reflections in their lives,” he said. “Their brand of comedy is known just to be that kind of pushing-the-boundary comedy without thinking about comedy at all.”
SEE ALSO: Lawyer for victims’ family members doubts Pickton will ever be granted parole
Tchadas Leo
