Jewish comedian threatened over ‘setting foot in Scotland’ after axed Fringe show
Comedian Rachel Creeger has told LBC she’s faced trolling and threats after her venue of seven years cancelled her show over ‘staff safety concerns’.
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The Orthodox Jewish comedian says she’s been left ‘depressed and angry’ since she was told she wouldn’t be able to perform her show at this year’s Fringe festival in Edinburgh.
“There has been obviously some negative comments online because that's the nature of the online world,” Ms Creeger said. “And some of that has been quite threatening.
“I’ve had a number of online threats since and an email that comes under what's known as malicious communication as well as a hate crime in terms of warning me off coming to Edinburgh or setting foot in Scotland.”
An email that LBC has seen accuses Ms Creeger of being a ‘baby killer’ and says [sic] ‘your not welcome and u never will be’.
Read more: Edinburgh Fringe Festival 'at risk' as council 'not enforcing' controversial law
Following on from news my & Aaron Levene’s long running compilation show, Jew-O-Rama, was being cancelled by Whistlebinkies due to concerns over “staff safety”, yesterday I learnt that my solo show, Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way? was being dropped by Banshee Labyrinth.
— Philip Simon - Stand Up Comedian (@PhilipsComedy) July 26, 2025
1/8 pic.twitter.com/B2I4wGhgZD
On July 18, Ms Creeger and fellow comedian Philip Simon were contacted by the PBH Free Fringe, the festival which they were due to perform in. The CEO informed the pair that Whistlebinkies - a bar in the city centre - had pulled out of hosting them.
“It came as a huge shock to us," she said.
“The reasons that they gave were that because there was extra, additional support for Jewish performers at the Fringe in terms of security, the staff claimed that made them feel, quite ironically, unsafe, really.
“If anything, the venues were safer than they've ever been before.”
Ms Creeger says she was due to perform her musical improv show Ultimate Jewish Mother at the Edinburgh bar – the same show she had performed at that venue in previous years.
Philip Simon was scheduled to compare stand-up act Jew-O-Rama.
“We can't really just say the staff definitely weren't scared and it was definitely anti-semitism,” Mr Simon said. “Because that was the reason Whistlebinkies gave, that the staff were scared and it's not fair for us to undermine that completely.
“But ultimately, when you've got two shows that do have the word Jew in it, then you kind of have to go ‘if it walks like a duck’, you know. This is the problem with antisemitism. I find it's so unprovable.”
The fallout from this cancellation has led to another venue dropping another show of Mr Simon’s.
Banshee Labyrinth told LBC the decision was down to posts the comedian had made on social media since Hamas carried out an attack on Israel on October 7 attack.
The venue shared these posts with LBC some of which show the comedian attending a ‘Stand With Israel’ rally and asking people supporting Palestine to call for the release of hostages.
“I then found out that Banshee Labyrinth were dropping me as well,” Mr Simon said. “As a result of the attention that had been drawn to the fact that I was being asked not to perform at Whistlebinkies, because they didn't want a Jewish show there, they'd done a deep dive into my social media and decided I didn't fit in with their ethos.
“And that was obviously very targeted. You know, they didn't search everyone's social media.”
A Banshee Labyrinth spokesperson told LBC: “Due to the recent controversy [Philip’s show being pulled from our neighbouring pub], our management had a duty of care to our customers and staff members to review the political statements and opinions expressed by the performer.
“We feel it is inappropriate for us to provide a platform for performers whose views and actions align with the rhetoric and symbolism of groups associated with humanitarian violations.”
Mr Simon disagrees that the series of posts show support for the Israeli government. Both comedians have expressed hesitation about returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next year.
However, Ms Creeger says she’s determined not to let trolling stop her. “Edinburgh has been my home like one month every 12 for a long, long time and I have a whole community there,” she said.
“I can’t let people who are acting in an unreasonable or irrational way prevent me from coming there and doing my best show.”
“I’m feeling very, very disillusioned with the Fringe," Mr Simon told LBC. “But the support we’ve received from a lot of people has genuinely overwhelmed us.”
Both comics have been contacted by several other venues in the Scottish capital, offering to help but a solution to the cancelled shows has not been found yet.
Ms Creeger says she has reported one of the threats against her to the police.
PBH Free Fringe said: "The Free Fringe is still looking for a new home for Philip and Rachel’s shows. We have tried offering swaps with some of our existing shows or creating gaps at newer venues but nothing so far has been suitable. We put them in touch with other organisations, even offering to help financially given the exceptional circumstances but nothing has been confirmed to our knowledge. We would be happy to run any space that anyone can find, or aid in the transfer to any other organisation should they find a space in their programme.
"As fellow performers, we know how hard this has been on them, however this is a venue decision, and these venues have stood by us for many years, giving hundreds of performers a free space, including the performers in question; both Whistelbinkies and Banshee Labyrinth would like it known that they welcome performers regardless of religion, culture or ethnicity, just as they have always done."
LBC has contacted Whistlebinkies.