The sister of Meredith Kercher has criticised a solo comedy show by Amanda Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering the British student in Italy in 2007.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe website says Knox’s show, Cartwheel, is about motherhood and how she will explain what happened in Perugia to her daughter.
Stephanie Kercher, addressing Knox directly on BBC Breakfast, said: “What I would say [to Knox] 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.”
Knox said the show, set to run over 11 days from Friday, honours Kercher’s memory.
Her comedy show’s title Cartwheel references a story that once claimed she did cartwheels in the police station after her friend’s death.
Knox told the Telegraph newspaper, external last week: “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.”
Asked if Meredith Kercher would have found her comedy funny, she added: “Yeah, I think so. I mean, it is funny!”.
Responding to that suggestion, Stephanie Kercher told the BBC: “Meredith absolutely wouldn’t find these topics of any comedy value.”
She said: “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.”
A petition against the show, set up by a friend of Meredith, has been signed by just over 2,400 people, and says the show disrespects her memory and also risks normalising violence against women by making light of such a harrowing event.