Amanda Knox has defended her Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Cartwheel, after a petition calling for it to be cancelled gained more than 10,000 signatures. She said the show examines motherhood, misogyny and the consequences of telling difficult truths, arguing that it honours murdered student Meredith Kercher’s memory rather than trivialising her death. The dispute matters because it has renewed debate about artistic freedom, public scrutiny and whether comedy can address traumatic subjects responsibly.

The petition, started by Meredith Kercher’s former friend and colleague Sally Alington, alleges that the show turns the murder into entertainment. Knox, who was wrongly convicted of Kercher’s 2007 murder before being acquitted in 2015, said critics had not seen the performance and had misrepresented it. The Gilded Balloon Teviot will host the show from 7 to 17 August, saying it supports a wide range of voices, while Fringe Society director Tony Lankester said the venue has the final decision.