The sister of Meredith Kercher has criticised a solo comedy show by Amanda Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering the British student in Italy in 2007.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe website says Knox’s show, Cartwheel, is about motherhood and how she will explain what happened in Perugia to her daughter.
Stephanie Kercher, addressing Knox directly on BBC Breakfast, said: “What I would say [to Knox] is to think about the family here, think about her friends and to turn the tables if it was your sister that this had happened to, because I know you have a sister as well.”
Knox said the show, set to run over 11 days from Friday, honours Kercher’s memory.
Her comedy show’s title Cartwheel references a story that once claimed she did cartwheels in the police station after her friend’s death.
Knox told the Telegraph newspaper last week: “I don’t joke about Meredith’s death. I joke a lot about how I was vilified, but I don’t joke about her murder.”
Asked if Meredith Kercher would have found her comedy funny, she added: “Yeah, I think so. I mean, it is funny!”.
Responding to that suggestion, Stephanie Kercher told the BBC: “Meredith absolutely wouldn’t find these topics of any comedy value.”
A petition against the show, set up by a friend of Meredith, has been signed by more than 4,500 people, and says the show disrespects her memory and also risks normalising violence against women by making light of such a harrowing event.
Referencing the petition, Stephanie Kercher told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not just our family that feels this pain, and I do think this is something that needs to be looked at, because it sets a precedent for anyone else to do a show like this.”
She urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to explore the issue and said she would like to meet him.
“I think that if it was a generic theme, as many comedy shows are, even when they’re pushing the boundaries, it would be different,” she added.
“Because this is associated with an individual case and individual person, I think that’s where the worry lies here for me, because who else is this going to then open up this opportunity for.”
Knox in a statement on Instagram said no one who had signed the petition had seen the show and the petition “contains many false assumptions and completely mischaracterizes the show”.