Blackpool's Comedy Carpet artist says removal of controversial names like Rolf Harris not an option
The artist who created Blackpool’s award-winning Comedy Carpet says there must be no attempt to remove any controversial names from the famous artwork.
Gordon Young was speaking after renewed calls were made to extract the name of the late entertainer Rolf Harris, who was jailed in 2014 after being convicted of indecent assaults on four women.
And Mr Young made an impassioned plea for the preservation of any art forms which came under threat because circumstances swung against them years after they were created.
Harris is included in the installation because he, in common with all the other entertainers featured, performed in Blackpool, appearing in a summer show in the 1980s.
With more than 850 names across an area of at 2,200m2 , the polished floor covering in front of Blackpool Tower has been described as one of the largest public art installations ever created in the UK.
But Blackpool man Eddie Fewings spoke out last year, saying it was inappropriate to have a convicted sex offender's name on a family attraction which was there for everyone to see. He said it should be cut out and replaced with another name.
No moral judgements
Mr Young said: “I agree that what Rolf Harris did was despicable and I do sympathise with what the gentleman has said.
“The point is, though, when I started the project, worked with a local historian and did the research, I made up my mind that I couldn't make moral judgements on all these entertainers.
“If you start doing that, where does it end? Who do you leave out. Some of these people were lovely but some of them were not nice people, let's be honest.
“What they all had in common, though, was that they made people laugh, they brought humour into people's lives and made a real difference.
“I can’t agree with this thing we have now, where some people start trying to change works of art because we've decided we don;t like the people who made them.”
Mr Fewings said: “There’s no place for Rolf Harris and his name should have been removed years ago.
“When I spoke to the artist he got pretty angry about it and said it wouldn't be changed.”
The Comedy Carpet was first unveiled in 2011 to great fanfare and quickly became yet another iconic feature of the town in its own right. More than just a giant list, it includes a plethora of well known catchphrases and gags.
Blackpool Council, who originally commissioned the work, previously said Rolf Harris’ name would not be removed, maintaining the same position following similar calls 11 years ago, after consultation with artist and carpet creator, Gordon Young.
A Blackpool Council spokesperson said: “After much careful consideration in 2014, Blackpool Council as commissioners of the artwork and Gordon Young as the artist that created the original design decided not to erase Rolf Harris’s name off the Comedy Carpet.
“Mr Harris’s acts were despicable but his name being on the carpet in no way condones those acts.
“At the time of the Comedy Carpet being created and installed there was no reason to question the inclusion of Rolf Harris. His name appears on the Comedy Carpet along with a thousand others due to his links to comedy sketches and songs. There are no references to his work other than his name.”
Mr Young had some tongue-in -cheek advice for anyone who didn't approve.