A female comedian named Jenny Collier has revealed she was recently dropped from a stand-up bill at a club in Haslemere, Surrey, U.K. because there were already “too many women” on the bill. Aaaaaaand happyInternational Women’s Day, everyone.
Yesterday evening, Collier tweeted a screenshot of the e-mail she received from the venue’s proprietors booting her from the May 15 event:
Predictably, Twitter went bananas:
Since yesterday morning, Collier’s tweet has been retweeted more than 4,000 times by women all over the world, yet the identity of the anonymous stand-up club proprietor remains a mystery. U.K. blogger Red Mister did a littlesleuthing, however, and determined that the only Haslemere club hosting an event on May 15 is Hemingways of Haslemere. Hemingways is owned by the comedy chain Mirth Control, which books more than 100 venues in Britain and Europe.
We’ve reached out to Mirth Control and Collier, and will update if we receive a response.
Update: Mirth Control, the comedy chain that owns Hemingway’s has issued a statement on their website apologizing to Collier: “We would like to make it clear that Mirth Control was in no way responsible for, nor does it endorse the decision made by the venue.” Mirth Control owner Geoff Whiting also told Buzzfeed that Mirth was ending their relationship with Hemingways, the club that sent Collier the e-mail, following the incident.