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Hardeep Singh Kohli:
last Edinburgh he approached me and my friend/tech in assembly bar claiming he knew us. He didn’t. He sat down next to us anyway & asked when my show was and took a picture with me saying - ‘tweet that, people will come to the show if you do. I’ll come too’
last Edinburgh he approached me and my friend/tech in assembly bar claiming he knew us. He didn’t. He sat down next to us anyway & asked when my show was and took a picture with me saying - ‘tweet that, people will come to the show if you do. I’ll come too’
It all seemed fucking weird but my tech and I decided maybe it was just a man trying to support young women in comedy and we shouldn’t be so cynical. He came to the show that night and heckled, interrupting to ask inane questions, saying he was trying to help the show while
just undermining it. At the end he insisted on buying me a drink but I avoided answer. I went down to the bar after get out and he’d bought me one anyway. Then he got in a fight with the bouncer so that we had to leave. At this he suggested we go somewhere else to finish the
drinks (how convenient the fight he started led to having to go somewhere more isolated. Luckily, diet coke for me, I’m sober) and took me to a bench next to a closed food van down a side road. At this point i stopped feeling safe and conversely became more polite and friendly
which might sound counterintuitive to some people but is actually just a safety defence. He insisted that I was a great comedian and that he could make me likeable - he could see it even if others couldn’t. Nice. He offered to Produce and direct me, explaining how much influence
he had to make me a success. Then he said it would be best if I visited him to come and write on the show, staying in his bed in Glasgow, having a little spoon together. Then he said ‘oh I don’t fancy you by the way, just feel like we are kindred spirits, but if something DID
happen well... let’s see’. I said I had to go back to the venue because I’d left my phone behind, as a way to leave, but he grabbed my dog and said ok I’ll hang on to her until you get back. Ffs. I returned and he then asked a lot of questions about my recovery, where I lived,
and other things that made me feel like he was trying to get me feeling vulnerable. I could see what he was doing. Eventually I made an excuse and left but he made me promise to text him. I felt really uncomfortable and gross but he’d been careful enough not to say anything
too incriminating. It was an offer of power in exchange for sex but he had been very sly about how frank he was in his wording. I went into plesance dome and asked a friend about him. Luckily she told me all about him being a known creep and his history on the one show, advising
me to get rid of him ASAP. He was known to be violent. I googled him and felt sick. How the FUCK was this man given a venue still or backed by a production company. (By the way - @SO_COMEDY and @AssemblyFest i urge you please not to platform this known abuser again. Please)
To be very clear - he did not assault me. He tried to manipulate me. It wasn’t just bad flirting (btw please let’s stop coming after guys for that), it was isolating me to try and use his status and power to get me to sleep with him. All while negging me and making slimy jokes.
I texted the next day to politely say thanks for the offer but I was uncomfortable with some of the things he had said. He didn’t reply just blocked me and untweeted about me, so he knew he’d done something wrong. I then panicked that he was going to slander me in some way.
Or come back and lash out. I spent the rest of the fringe with horrible anxiety about it. I am hearing loads of stories about him and I think mines pretty mild comparatively to be honest but it triggered a lot of stuff for me that left me in a mess. He shouldn’t be getting away
with this. He obviously spotted me in the bar in the day thinking - ah, a young blond girl in pink dungarees with a dog. This will be easy. Listen fuck head, I may dress like a sweet little goblin but I’m actually strong as fuck and I knew what you were doing the whole time.
Nice fucking try. The stuff I’m hearing about him is abhorrent I’m shocked he’s still working in any performative capacity. He CANNOT be allowed to remain a threat to others in the industry.
Hope everyone is ok and sending love and support
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Hope everyone is ok and sending love and support
Please share this with anyone you think may be promoting / at risk from this guy - we have to circulate this stuff and keep others safe. It’s horrible and makes me very sad but something has to change. Please.
