Edinburgh Fringe is becoming a Jew-free zone

Spectator

2 days ago

Is the Edinburgh Fringe a Judenfrei zone now? With just a week to go before the Fringe kicks off, Jewish comedians are being unceremoniously cancelled. One venue has allegedly cited 'safety concerns' from staff, saying the extra muscle to deal with the threats to Jewish acts made them feel more unsafe. So instead of protecting Jews, you ditch them? What a shameful capitulation to the anti-Semitic mob.
Numerous Jewish-themed comedy shows have been binned at the Whistlebinkies venue in the city. Rachel Creeger, Britain's only practising Orthodox Jewish comedian, has been told her show Ultimate Jewish Mother is no longer going ahead. Jew-O-Rama was next for the chop. That's a comedy night that features a 'rolling line-up of Jewish and Jew-ish comedians'. It's been running at the Fringe for nine years. Not anymore. Seems funny Jews aren't allowed in 2025.
And now the host of Jew-O-Rama, Philip Simon, says his one-man show 'Shall I Compare Thee in a Funny Way?' has been cancelled at the Banshee Labyrinth venue. 'I am still processing the concept that in 2025 I can be cancelled just for being Jewish', says Mr Simon. We should all be processing that. We should all be asking how it is possible that at a comedy festival in the 21st century, Jews are being booted off stage.
The reasons given by the venues for their blitzing of the Jewish acts are ridiculous. They say it is not because the comedians are Jewish – I guess it is entirely coincidental that every one of the gagged comics is a Jew. No, it's because their bar staff said they would 'feel unsafe' in the presence of such acts and the beefed-up security Jewish performers tragically require in 21st-century Britain.
Listen, here's what you do with members of staff who say Jewish performers make them feel unsafe – sack them. Get those people the hell out of your establishments. To prioritise the emotions of pint-pulling Gen Z fainthearts over the artistic liberty of Jews is a grotesque betrayal of the freedom to speak and the equality of Jews. Extra security for Jewish acts should make you feel furious, not 'unsafe'. Furious that a Jew can't even crack a joke these days without requiring an army of heavies.
Philip Simon says he was told that his one-man show was scrubbed because his views on 'the humanitarian crisis in Palestine' do not align with those of the venue. What are his scandalous views? Well, he calls himself 'pro-Israel' and he has pleaded for the release of the Israeli hostages. Wanting Jews to be freed from the violent clutches of a neo-fascist militia is a cancellable offence now, it seems.
There's a neo-McCarthyite vibe to these venues' erasure of Jews who fail to toe the 'progressive' line on the Israel-Hamas war. Perhaps next year, to save time, the Fringe should check the thinking of every Jew who applies to perform. 'Are you now or have you ever been a sympathiser with the Jews still being held captive by Hamas? Are you now or have you ever been a believer in Israel's right to exist?' Answer carefully, Jew – your livelihood is on the line.
It really is that stark: Jewish comics are being robbed of income because Fringe venues are too cowardly to host them. 'We depend on performing for our livelihoods', said Rachel Creeger. And it's not just the Fringe that's rejecting Jewish acts. This is an 'ongoing problem faced by Jewish performers in this country', she says. 'We are being cancelled and often silently boycotted.'
These are the awful wages of the Israelophobic frenzy that has swept the cultural establishment these past two years. It's all the rage now to boycott Jews. Last month two shows by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and the musician Dudu Tassa were cancelled after threats were made against them. The problem? Tassa is a Jew from Israel. And we can't have that.
Under the left's bigoted regime of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), Israeli performers have been banned or booed and Jewish film festivals have been cancelled. Imagine thinking you're on the right side of history even as you obsessively make your life Israeli-frei; even as you agitate for the shutting down of Jewish film nights and squeal about feeling 'unsafe' because a Jew with a mic is telling a joke.
If a huge line-up of black comics were kicked out of the Edinburgh Fringe, we'd call it what it was. So let's say it here, too: it is heinous, intolerant and discriminatory to cancel Jewish acts at the behest of fragile bar staff or potential anti-Jewish mobs. It is the blackest mark against the Fringe that some of its venues would rather shut Jews down than take the necessary measures to let them perform safely and freely. Throwing Jews to the wolves – shame on you, Edinburgh.