Comedian Reginald D Hunter has said he “regrets any stress” caused after two Israeli audience members were booed out of his Edinburgh Fringe Festival gig, according to witnesses.
The US stand-up was reportedly heard telling the pair to leave his Fluffy Fluffy Beavers show on Sunday night after they heckled him over a joke, calling it “not funny”, The Telegraph reported.
According to people who saw the show, the 55-year-old made a joke comparing Israel to an abusive partner, which got a laugh from the majority of those at the show in the Assembly George Square Studios on Sunday.
In a statement addressing the incident, Hunter said on Thursday: “There was an unfortunate incident in my new show ‘Fluffy Fluffy Beaver’.
“As a comedian, I do push boundaries in creating humour, it’s part of my job.
“This inevitably created divided opinions but I am staunchly anti-war and anti-bully. I regret any stress caused to the audience and venue staff members.”
Dominic Cavendish, chief theatre critic at The Telegraph who attended the show, said it was the “most unpleasant comedy gig I’ve ever attended”.
“In the past I’ve had time for Hunter, a free-thinking outsider, who has lived in the UK since 1997,” Cavendish wrote in his review of the show.
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“But here he gave an object lesson in how not to pick on people in the front row. Instead of tolerating the couple’s joint heckle, he doubled down with a sinister air of beaming bellicosity.”
The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said the events were “extremely concerning”.
“Comedians are rightly given broad latitude, but they also have a responsibility to their audience… watching on and cracking jokes as Jews are hounded out of your show is a sickening low that cannot be disguised as comedy,” a spokesperson said.
