American comedian Reginald D Hunter mocked an Israeli couple who were hounded out of his Edinburgh Fringe show, Fluffy Fluffy Beavers, according to a scathing review in the Telegraph on Monday.
Hunter, who was embroiled in an antisemitism scandal in 2006, made a joke about an abusive wife: “My God, it’s like being married to Israel,” he quipped.
Although most of the audience laughed in response, one couple in the front row shouted, “Not funny”, according to theatre critic, Dominic Cavendish, who was in the audience.
When the couple said they were from Israel, audience members shouted “f*** off”, “genocidal maniac”, “you’re not welcome” and “free Palestine.”
During the furore, Hunter, 55, appeared to double down on his initial joke, telling the couple: “I’ve been waiting for you all summer, where the f*** you been?
“You can say it’s not funny to you, but if you say it to a room full of people who laughed, you look foolish,” he continued.
According to Cavendish, the Israeli women “remonstrated with the audience”, to which Hunter responded: “Look at you making everyone love Israel even more.”
Hunter allegedly laughed at the couple, one of whom was disabled, as they slowly left the auditorium.
He gloated: “That tells me that I still got voltage" after the couple left George Square Studios.
Hunter, who has appeared on various BBC shows, went on to make a remark about the Jewish Chronicle, Jews and money.
The comedian said that at the time of the 2006 scandal, in which he was accused of making light of the Holocaust, his partner made a remark about accessing the JC website via a paywall.
“Typical f---ing Jews, they won’t tell you anything unless you subscribe,” Hunter said.
“It’s just a joke,” he added. The JC does not currently have a paywall.
The 2006 incident revolved around Hunter’s suggestion that he should go to Austria, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust, get arrested for saying the genocide against the Jews did not happen, and tell the judge he was denying the Rwandan holocaust, not the Jewish one.
"The joke isn't about the Jews, it is about freedom of thought and freedom of expression," Hunter told Reuters at the time. He said the Holocaust was "one of those things considered to be off-limits; that's what I'm poking fun at. There have been loads of holocausts. Jews have the honour of having their holocaust known as 'the Holocaust', and that's fine. That's the way the world works."
Hunter and his management have been approached for comment.
