Two Jewish comedians have had their shows canceled at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival due to supposed ‘safety concerns.’ However, the performers themselves allege it was due to their Jewish identity.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest performing arts festival in the world, which takes place in the Scottish capital every year for about one month. It features different categories such as comedy, music, theater, spoken word, and opera, with several thousand shows and tens of thousands of performances.
Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon were set to perform at the Whistlebinkies venue but were informed that their acts had been canceled due to bar staff feeling “unsafe.” Jewish News reported that the venue told the two comedians that staff had claimed that a “vigil” for IDF soldiers had been held during last year’s performances. Creeger and Simon disputed this.
Simon was set to perform his long-running compilation show Jew-O-Rama alongside Aaron Levene at Whistlebinkies. However, on Saturday he released a statement on Instagram saying that his solo show, Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way, has also been dropped from the festival.
Simon reported being told that his “views concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine are in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions.”
Simon responded to this claim by saying that he has “never expressed support for anything other than freeing the hostages and finding a path for peace.”
“I am still processing the concept that in 2025 I can be canceled just for being Jewish,” he added. “This is emblematic of the problem facing Jewish artists and performers in the UK today.”
Rachel Creeger is the only practicing Orthodox Jewish woman on the mainstream UK comedy circuit, and her show The Ultimate Jewish Mother has been nominated for two awards. She told Jewish News that Whistlebinkies has always been “such a safe and welcoming environment,” and that she did not recognize the complaints being made by the bar staff.
Jewish performers cancelled and boycotted
“We had no idea that there was a problem until we were told last Friday that our shows were no longer welcome. With the Fringe launching next week, this has made it nearly impossible to find new venues for the month, and we depend on performing for our livelihoods.
“Sadly, this is part of an ongoing problem faced by Jewish performers in this country. We are being canceled and often silently boycotted.”
Creeger penned an op-ed in Jewish News earlier this month in which she spoke of how “since October 7, virtually every Jewish performer I know has witnessed antisemitism in the industry, and in recent months the situation has escalated.”
“I’ve seen threads on social media targeting Jewish performers and warning them that Zionists are not welcome, that they should beware of setting foot in Edinburgh,” she wrote.