Edinburgh’s shameful cancellation of Jewish comedians

Two Jewish comedians, Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon, had their Edinburgh Fringe Festival slots cancelled last week thanks to alleged ‘safety concerns’. Simon was also dropped from a second venue in Edinburgh for his social-media posts calling, among other things, for the return of the Israeli hostages.

I wish I was making this up, but in 2025, being Jewish is considered a safety risk. Whistlebinkles, the venue that was slated to host Creeger and Simon’s gigs, decided to cancel the shows when bar staff expressed fears of feeling ‘unsafe’. These concerns were reportedly raised when the venue was told it would need extra police protection to guarantee the safety of Jewish acts.

Rachel is a friend of mine. I’ve seen her show, Ultimate Jewish Mother, and it mainly features laughs about motherhood and how to make good chicken soup. She is the only female Orthodox Jew on the comedy circuit and the only dangerous thing about her is that she may drown you in love and cuddles. Each year at the Edinburgh Fringe, she hosts Friday night dinners for other Jews and makes sure there is kosher food for everyone who needs it. It makes me sick to think her presence at a comedy venue might lead to anyone feeling ‘unsafe’.

Philip Simon was not only taken off the line-up at Whistlebinkles, he was then barred from the Banshee Labyrinth, too. The management cited its ‘duty of care to our customers and staff members’. Having monitored his social media, the venue said it was ‘inappropriate’ to host anyone whose ‘views and actions align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations’ – ie, Israel. The supposedly offending tweets included images from a vigil for Israeli hostages, a call to ‘stand strong against terror’ and a plea not to forget the rape victims of 7 October 2023. All demands for peace, in other words.

‘I am still processing the concept that in 2025 I can be cancelled just for being Jewish’, Simon said in a statement on Saturday. His and Creeger’s cancellations are the obvious, if alarming, outgrowth of the campaigns to cancel anyone with any connections to Israel. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who toured with Israeli singer Dudu Tassa, and a British Jewish band called Oi Va Voi, which has some Israeli members, have both had performances blocked following demands from anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaigners. Now it’s not only Israelis who face cancellation. Even without a concerted cancellation campaign against them, two British Jews have just been prevented from performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Now that the self-professed anti-racists have turned on the Jews, allowing Jewish comics to be pushed out of festivals over questionable ‘safety’ concerns and pro-Israel social-media posts, it feels like the walls are closing in. The only people who are really ‘unsafe’ here are us.

Nicole Lampert is a national newspaper freelance journalist based in London. Follow her on X: @nicolelampert