Katie Hopkins: Blackpool's Joe Longthorne Theatre strongly defends decision to host controversial media personality

Hopkins is bringing her one woman show, ‘‘Live, Laugh, Love’, to the Joe Longthorne Theatre, on North Pier, on May 13 and October 14.

The former Apprentice candidate has become known as a right wing commentator who has made controversial and sometimes tasteless statements about migrants.

One of her shows, booked for Bedford last November, was cancelled after the borough council there took exception to her appearing in the town.

However, at the Joe Longthorne Theatre, general manager Martine Hagel said people should be able to make their own minds up if they wanted to see a show.

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She said: “This is not even the first time she has performed here, she did shows here last year and people really love her.

"We had no trouble here at all and those shows were really well attended.

"This is a funny comedy show, not a heavy political thing, and Katie pokes more fun at herself than anybody else, as anyone who has seen her shows will know.

"We had the same with Chubby Brown, some venues in other areas cancelled his shows but we had him here and he was no bother, people loved it.

"What I would say is that if you like Katie Hopkins, please buy a ticket. If you don’t like her, don’t bother.

"People should be able to make their own decisions about what shows they want to see.”

‘‘Live, Laugh, Love’ show is described as the “perfect night out if you want to laugh at the insanity of our lefty world”.

Hopkins had more than a million followers on Twitter when she was booted off the site in 2020 for breaking rules on hate speech with comments on race, religion and immigration.She had been heavily criticised over remarks comparing migrants to cockroaches.

Last year she appeared at the Joe Longthorne Theatre with former BBC radio presenter Alex Belfield, who also had a huge and loyal following with his Voice of Reason show on YouTube before he was jailed for five years in September after being convicted of stalking Jeremy Vine and others.

Ticket prices for Hopkins’ show range from £25-£40 and went on sale Friday.