\n Security measures were in place outside the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne as the media personality took to the stage for a closed show on Thursday evening.\n<\/p>\n
\n Demonstrators gathered from around 6.30pm and remained outside the venue until the show began at approximately 7.45pm, chanting at people queuing to enter the theatre.\n<\/p>\n
\n A representative from Stand Up to Racism Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole said: \u201cWe were expecting 20 to 30 people and about 200 people were protesting \u2013 the whole of Wimborne came out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Campaigners shouted chants including \u201cKatie Hopkins shame on you\u201d and \u201cKatie Hopkins is racist, sexist and anti-trans\u201d as attendees queued outside the venue.\n<\/p>\n
\n The sold-out event formed part of Hopkins\u2019 Free Range UK advertised as an evening of stand-up comedy featuring her views on politics, celebrities and current affairs, alongside stories from her own life and career.\n<\/p>\n
\n The representative said the atmosphere among protesters was positive throughout the evening, although they said some demonstrators received abuse from people attending the show.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe took a bit of abuse from people in the queue. Personally, I’d be embarrassed.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think you have to question it a little bit if you\u2019re lining up for a show where there is a protest,\u201d they said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Protest organisers said the demonstration was aimed at Hopkins and her views rather than the Tivoli Theatre itself, but said “it makes you think twice about using the venue.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Adding: “She makes money by standing on stage and taking the mickey out of people who are already in difficult positions. That’s the sort of people she targets and, personally, I don’t think that’s funny.\n<\/p>\n
\n “She sells herself as someone who’s telling the truth and being real, but I think she’s a massive grifter. She’s helping to divide the country and making money from people while does it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Protests outside of the Tivoli theatre in Wimborne (Image: Stand up to Racism BCP)\n<\/p>\n
\n In a statement, the Tivoli Theatre trustees said: “The Tivoli Theatre does not endorse Ms Hopkins\u2019, or anyone else\u2019s views however, there are many people who do appreciate her outlook on life.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Katie Hopkins has appeared elsewhere in the area for two or more years running which confirmed to us that there was a demand.”\n<\/p>\n
\n They stated that the show sold out within a few weeks when tickets went on sale last November and emphasised that it is a \u201cclosed event\u201d for paying attendees who are \u201cfully aware of her act.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Security measures were in place outside the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne as the media personality took to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-672935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}