Comedian Paul Currie banned by Soho Theatre after Jewish audience member 'hounded out’ of his show

14 February 2024, 05:17 | Updated: 14 February 2024, 08:52

• Were you in the audience? Contact online@lbc.co.uk

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

A theatre in central London has said a comedian whose gig left Jewish members of the audience "unsafe" has been banned from the venue.

Jewish attendees were "subjected to verbal abuse" after the end of Paul Currie's show on Saturday night, the theatre said.

Currie led chants of ‘get out’ following a row over a Palestinian flag.

Liahav Eitan, an Israeli man, had been attending the one-hour show ‘Shtoom’ by comedian Paul Currie at the theatre on Saturday when the incident occurred.

Towards the end of the show, Mr Currie is alleged to have produced a Palestinian and Ukrainian flag on stage and invited the audience members to applaud, an anonymous eyewitness told Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).

After the audience, made up of 200 people, applauded the flags, the eyewitness said: “When we all sat down again, [Currie] looked towards a young man sitting in the second row and said: ‘You didn’t stand, why? Didn’t you enjoy my show?’

“The young man, who we discovered soon after was Israeli, replied: ‘I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian Authority flag'."

The eyewitness claims the comedian then told him: “Get out of my show. Get the f*** out of here. F*** off, get the f*** out of here.”

Other audience members then chimed in, joining in chants of ‘Get out’ and ‘Free Palestine’.

The eyewitness said he and his friends also decided to leave the theatre after the incident, as they “felt threatened”.

A spokesperson for the theatre said: "Soho Theatre will not tolerate intimidation of audience members due to their nationality, race, religion or beliefs.

"On Saturday evening, following the end of Paul Currie’s show Shtoom, Jewish members of the audience were subjected to verbal abuse and the performer aggressively demanding they leave the theatre.Such appalling actions are unacceptable and have no place on our stages, now or ever.

"We will not be inviting Paul Currie back to perform at our venue.

"Whilst we robustly support the right of artists to express a wide range of views in their shows, intimidation of audience members, acts of antisemitism or any other forms of racism will not be tolerated at Soho Theatre.

"We are continuing our investigation, discussing the incident with that evening’s audience and consulting with the police.

"We are working with the Campaign Against Antisemitism to meet with members of the audience who were affected. We are taking professional advice to safeguard the much-valued inclusivity of Soho Theatre."

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Recounting the incident, an eyewitness said: “It felt like we were welcome in the theatre as long as our identities [as] Jews weren’t known, and the minute our identities were known, we felt threatened.

“Leaving the theatre, I felt threatened. I didn't know if I was going to get physically assaulted. We were all shaken. We were extremely upset and anxious.”

One of the eyewitness’ friends later received a message from another attendee of the show who claimed the situation became “even more inflamed” after they had left.

Soho Theatre has since launched an investigation and apologised for the incident.

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A spokesperson for CAA said: “What the Jewish audience members have recounted is atrocious, and we are working with them and our lawyers to ensure that those who instigated and enabled it are held to account.

“These allegations are of deeply disturbing discriminatory abuse against Jews. Comedians are rightly given broad latitude, but hounding Jews out of theatres is reminiscent of humanity’s darkest days, and must have no place in central London in 2024.”

Mr Currie has been approached for comment.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of the incident that took place at the Soho Theatre on Saturday evening.

“We understand why it was upsetting for those involved and we note the venue has issued a statement confirming they are looking into what took place.

“A report was submitted to police on Monday and enquiries are ongoing.”