Preacher Calvin Robinson fired from Royal Academy of Dance wins payout

Preacher Calvin Robinson, who was fired from Royal Academy of Dance for protesting against drag queen story time, wins payout

• Mr Robinson, 37, was awarded £8,000 after he was removed by RAD 
• The former teacher was suspended from GB News for supporting Dan Wootton

Suspended GB News TV presenter Reverend Calvin Robinson has won an out-of-court settlement from the Royal Academy of Dance after he was sacked from a senior role for opposing a drag queen storytelling session for children.

Mr Robinson, 37, was awarded £8,000 after the RAD removed him from its education sub-committee for protesting against what he believed to be the sexualisation of minors.

It came after he attended a rally organised by conservative group Turning Point UK against the show, starring drag queen That Girl, being held at a pub in South London earlier this year. The protest turned into a violent clash with LGBT activists.

Mr Robinson reported on the protest on his Calvin’s Common Sense Crusade on GB News.

Tim Arthur, chief executive of the academy, and trustees, wrote to tell Robinson he was being thrown off the committee adding: ‘We cannot condone the way in which you have chosen to express your views’.

Reverend Calvin Robinson won an out-of-court settlement from Royal Academy of Dance after he opposed a drag queen storytelling session for children

Former teacher Mr Robinson, a deacon in the Free Church of England, took legal action, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, claiming harassment and discrimination on the grounds of his Christian beliefs. The RAD settled last week before the case reached court.

Last night, he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I am pleased that the bullies did not win and that they have learnt you cannot push people out for holding traditional views – Christian views.

‘It is sad to see that, on the one hand, they insist on pushing these toxic ideologies upon young people, and on the other hand call themselves inclusive while excluding anyone with traditionally British views.

‘Say a man can become a woman and invade women’s protected spaces and you’ll be encouraged. Say you are against the sexualisation of children and you’ll be fired from their organisation.’

A counter protest organised by Stand Up to Racism in London in support of drag queen story hour

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘This is an important win for Calvin. It is a loss to the RAD no longer to have Calvin on their board.’

Robinson is now embroiled in another free speech row. He was suspended by the channel last week after publicly supporting fellow broadcaster Dan Wootton, who has been taken off air in a row about misogynistic comments made during a broadcast by former actor Laurence Fox.

Meanwhile, the landlady of the pub at the centre of the drag row has left her job. Charlotte Grant, 42, said her departure from the Honor Oak in Lewisham, run by the Laine Brew Co, was ‘very much not amicable’.

But she vowed to carry on holding her ‘wholesome’ drag queen storytelling events at other venues.

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