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| Controversy over anti-Jewish jokes in Edinburgh
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LONDON (EJP)--- A Jewish comedy writer has caused controversy at this summer’s Edinburgh Festival after claiming that there has been an increase in “overt Jew-hating” in stand up comedy shows at the event.
In an article in Britain’s The Times newspaper last week, Jamie Glassman referred to two acts who he perceived to be outwardly anti-Semitic.
Australian comic Steve Hughes, whose show The Storm was described by Glassman as “an assault on all things Western”, was quoted as saying: “I want to bash Condoleezza Rice’s brain to bits and kill that f****** Jew Richard Perle.”
And African American comedian Reginald D. Hunter was said to have told his audience “he has a good mind to go to Austria, stand in the street and say the Holocaust didn’t happen so that he could get arrested”during his show entitled Hunter’s Pride and Prejudice and Niggas, .
Crossed the line
Glassman is himself a controversial writer, having worked on the contentious Ali G Show, where Jewish comedian Sasha Baron Cohen plays characters including Ali G, a wannabe black man from London and Borat, a racist from Kazakhstan.
Although the writer understands comedy he said the two acts crossed the thin line between funny and offensive.
“The question of what is acceptable material for comedy is always going to be a complex one to answer. Comedians should certainly be allowed to say anything,” Glassman wrote. “In fact, it is their role and their duty to be breaking taboos where they need to be broken. But comics do have an obligation to think about whom they might be offending with their material and whether or not those who say they are offended are right to be.”
Glassman said he believed that “what is going on in Edinburgh now is no satire.”
He claimed that “Hughes represents a growing trend among left-thinking people in this country and around the world to accept as dogma that those on the Left should hate Bush, Blair, American imperialism, Israel and, while we’re at it, the Jews.”
And he added: “It is a cultural trend that I’ve found increasingly evident but never before has the Jew-hating element been so overt. This week has confirmed that my Jewish paranoia is not entirely unfounded.”
Comedians react
Both comedians reacted to Glassman’s public criticism. Hunter defended himself, saying "The joke isn’t about the Jews, it is about freedom of thought and expression.”
And although Hughes defended some of his jokes, he apologised for describing Richard Perle as "that f ... ing Jew". According to The Times, his spokesman said the phrase was made "off the cuff" and Hughes regretted using it.”
The jokes were criticsed by the Board of Deputies for British Jews. Board community issues director Alex Goldberg said he was “astonished” by Hunter’s remarks.
“For him to negate the Holocaust seems to be counter to what he wants to achieve,” he said. “Those who have tried to justify race hate have always come up with a reason. It is unjustifiable.”
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