Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue operator, Assembly, has recently issued an apology after actor and public personality Layton Williams was removed from their site last Friday.
Williams posted a video on Twitter outside the event after being told to leave the Assembly’s venue in George Square as he looked similar to an attendee who had jumped the fence a few weeks prior.
As a POC public personality, appearing on both the West End and the BBC’s Bad Education, Williams commented: “this is a fucking joke. Want to talk about racial profiling? Here it is in the flesh,” he said.
While filming his complaint, an Assembly Festival member of staff had appeared to give him the finger. Williams continued to say within his video that “I can prove I wasn’t here two weeks ago…But I’ve just been kicked out of a venue because I look like somebody else. But that’s not me. I have receipts [as proof] and they don’t want to see the receipts.”
In further tweets, William showed his outfit on the night of the event. He tweeted that the “suspicious outfit” he was wearing consisted of “GLITTER SOCKS & a COW JUMPER! Fuck me if that’s suspicious then.” A black security guard allegedly told Williams that if he “sees this vid on social media I’ll find you.”
He later confirmed that he had informed the police, and in his tweet he tagged both the Edinburgh Fringe Twitter account and Assembly.
Assembly has since issued a public apology that is current pinned on their page, saying: “We are currently looking into the situation with our security contractor and will be investigating this further. We would also like to reassure all performers and audiences that we are committed to making sure that our spaces remain welcoming for everyone attending shows and using our venues.”
Williams also said that this had, unfortunately, “ruined his @edfringe experience.”
Allan Jones, a managing director of the security company Dundedin admitted that the “[security] handling of the intital incident was poor.”
Layton Williams and Assembly have been contacted by The Student for further comments.
Developing story.
Photo: Edinburgh Blog via Flickr