The sister of Meredith Kercher has called for a solo comedy show by Amanda Knox to be pulled from the Edinburgh Fringe.
Ms Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering the British student in Italy in 2007, is performing her one-woman show Cartwheel at the Fringe for 11 days this month.
She says that the show is about motherhood, and how she will explain the circumstances of her wrongful imprisonment in Perugia to her five-year-old daughter.
The show's title references an infamous claim which Ms Knox has denied, that she did cartwheels in the police station while being questioned about her friend's death.
Ms Knox says the show honours Ms Kercher's memory, and told the Telegraph: "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."
She told the newspaper that she thinks Ms Kercher would have found her comedy funny - but her sister Stephanie Kercher told the BBC: "Meredith absolutely wouldn't find these topics of any comedy value."
"Our family's pain is immense. I can't explain to you how much pain our family have been through, and also we're talking two decades later now, this pain."
In an appearance on BBC Breakfast, she added: "What I would say 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."
A petition against the show, set up by close friend of the Kercher family Sally Alington, has been signed by just over 2,400 people.
The petition says that the show disrespects Ms Kercher’s memory and risks normalising violence against women by making light of the event.
Ms Alington claims that the show “mocks the horrific events surrounding Meredith’s murder” and said that Ms Kercher’s siblings called the show “absurd and a gross trivialisation of their sister’s death”.
Stephanie Kercher has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to explore the issue and said she would like to meet him.
Speaking to The Scotsman, she said: “I’m very aware that in high profile cases everyone has their own opinions on guilt and innocence and I also agree with freedom of speech.
“However, when someone is still using Meredith’s name to support themselves, and furthermore, when a comedy is linked to an individual case and individual person, I cannot fathom how rape and murder can be laughed about and I cannot understand how one person’s behaviour at the police station can be the subject of the comedy show.”
In a statement on Instagram, Ms Knox said that the petition "contains many false assumptions and completely mischaracterizes the show".
She added: "Many of the Fringe's most celebrated comedy shows tackle difficult subjects including grief, trauma, mental health, addiction, illness, identity and politics."
The Gilded Balloon Teviot, the venue for the show in Edinburgh, said that they provide a platform for a wide range of voices in line with the Fringe’s long-standing commitment to freedom of expression.
They added: “Artists and companies choose to participate at our venue and take on the financial and creative responsibility for their work. Amanda’s show is a one-woman piece exploring themes of motherhood, presented independently by her.”
Since Ms Kercher’s death, Ms Knox has written two books and featured in a number of documentaries about her trial and subsequent imprisonment.
She served as an executive producer on the biographical drama The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, and has spent the last few years working as a stand-up comedian.
Ms Knox was housemates with London-born Ms Kercher while they were both language exchange students in the university town of Perugia in 2007.
She was arrested and convicted for Ms Kercher’s murder along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in 2009, following a high-profile trial that received widespread coverage around the world.
She served four years in an Italian prison before she and Mr Sollecito were acquitted in 2011.
A retrial took her back to jail in 2014, before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation definitively acquitted the pair of Ms Kercher’s murder in 2015.
Rudy Guede served 13 years of a 16-year sentence for Ms Kercher's murder, and was released from prison in 2021.
