Former Scots comedian of the year Leo Kearse is to stand in the forthcoming Scottish parliament elections as a candidate for Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party.
The Glasgow-based writer intends to contest Glasgow Pollok, the seat of Justice Minister Humza Yousaf.
In a publicity statement Mr Kearse who describes himeself as a "right-wing liberal comedian' said he would repeal the Hate Crime bill if elected and "expose corruption, incompetence, and systemic wokeness within the SNP".
The Reclaim Party has said it will back a package of reforms at Holyrood, including strengthening the powers of the Scottish Parliament by giving MSPs parliamentary privilege, as well as splitting up the prosecutorial and governmental responsibilities of the Lord Advocate into different positions.
Mr Kearse said: “The police, the church, the legal profession and even us comedians have all expressed opposition to this hated hate Bill.
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“When once we had freedom, Scots now live under the increasingly stultifying boot of the SNP, where even our ability to speak freely around the dinner table is set to be policed by Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon.
“With wokeness and extreme nationalism seemingly the only acceptable discourses allowed in Scotland these days, I feel now is the right time to stand up and be counted."
The comedian demanded an apology from the Live Comedy Association, following accusations he was racise.
It followed an appearance on Radio 4’s Today programme to discuss diversity in the BBC’s comedy output.
The Scottish stand-up said that it was important for the Corporation to give more airtime to working-class comedians and those with more varied political views as well as addressing ethnic diversity.
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He accused the BBC of having a 'lazy sneery anti-working class bias', adding: ‘There's no diversity. The diversity in BBC comedy runs skin deep. It's run by a nepotistic Oxbridge cabal who just get ther Oxbridge people with a slightly differnt skin colour to present things.
His comments provoked an angry backlash on Twitter and accusations of racist. He responded with an open letter to the Live Comedy Association, writing: ‘The intent of my message was clear to everyone listening - that the BBC has a lack of diversity and draws the majority of its talent from a tiny unrepresentative pool of privately-educated Oxbridge graduates."
He advertised his 2018 Edinburgh Fringe show with the message: 'Don't come if you are poor."
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