Reginald D. Hunter. Photo: Screenshot
American comedian Reginald D. Hunter has gone on an anti-Zionist rampage on X/Twitter, after a theater in Scotland canceled his stand-up comedy show in response to an incident that happened with Israeli audience members at one of his recent performances.
The Eastwood Park Theatre is located in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, which is home to Scotland’s largest Jewish community. A spokesperson for the charity East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, which runs the theater where Hunter was scheduled to perform in September, said on Friday that the comedian’s performance next month was canceled due “controversial comments” made during his “Fluffy Fluffy Beavers” show on Aug. 11 as part of Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the BBC reported.
“We defend the freedom of expression of artists and understand that our audiences expect to extend some latitude to many acts, including alternative comedy, which may be controversial in places. However, we have a commitment to our community, and to our values of diversity and inclusion, which we take seriously,” the spokesperson said. Ticketholders will receive a refund for the show.
The UK-based Jewish organization North West Friends of Israel is also urging organizers of Manchester’s Laughterama festival to remove Hunter from the festival’s lineup because of the incident at his show on Aug. 11. Laughterama is taking place Sept. 4-8 at Castlefield Bowl in Manchester.
At his Aug. 11 stand-up comedy show, Hunter, 55, joked that having an abusive wife who complains about being abused herself is “like being married to Israel.” After an Israeli couple in the front row shouted “Not funny” and said they were from Israel, other audience members reportedly shouted expletives at them like “f—k off,” told them to leave the show, and further verbally abused the couple by yelling “genocidal maniac,” “you’re not welcome,” and “free Palestine.”