Amanda Knox’s New Comedy Show Isn’t Sitting Well With Murdered Roommate’s Family

Amanda Knox is defending her new stand-up comedy show against pushback from the sister of her murdered former roommate, who says the performance “normalizes and trivializes violence against women.” 

Meredith Kercher’s sister, Stephanie, told the BBC that Knox is “naturally free to continue with her life as she wishes,” but added that “the problem with this particular project is that it is comedy.”

“It’s not about whether people think she’s guilty or innocent, if someone else was doing the show specifically against Meredith, I would still feel the same, it is obviously an added wound that it’s coming from her at the same time, but I do feel very strongly that it should be something that’s not given a platform,” she said.

An online petition calling for its cancellation claims the show “mocks the horrific events surrounding Meredith’s murder and aims to somehow turn this tragedy into entertainment.”

Knox defended the show’s existence, saying she thinks it’s empowering for women and adding that she hopes Kercher’s family comes to see it.

The show is called “Cartwheel,” which references media reports that Knox did cartwheels in the police station following the discovery of the body. Per the Associated Press, the show is marketed as being about a woman “approaching forty, juggling motherhood and finally getting around to being furious about the whole wrongful-imprisonment thing. Especially when half the world is telling her to get over it, while the other half still thinks she’s guilty.”

It will run for 11 days at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. 

Knox, who is now 39, made headlines almost two decades ago following the murder of her British roommate in Italy. Kercher was found stabbed to death at the apartment she shared with Knox and two other roommates. 

Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were initially convicted of Kercher’s murder, and Knox spent nearly four years in prison before an appeals court freed her in 2011. Italy’s highest court ultimately acquitted them both in 2015.

Rudy Hermann Guede, whose DNA was found at the crime scene, was convicted of murdering Kercher in 2008. He was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison, which was reduced on appeal to 16 years, and was released in 2021 after serving most of the sentence. 

Knox has become an advocate for the wrongfully convicted, the AP noted, and has launched a podcast, written two books, and done speaking engagements to share her story. This is her first comedy show on the topic.