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American Comedian Proclaims He’s ‘Anti-Bully’ After Israeli Couple Heckled Out of Venue Following Anti-Israel Joke
Reginald D. Hunter. Photo: Screenshot
American stand-up comedian Reginald D. Hunter apologized on Thursday for an “unfortunate” incident that took place at his show this week during the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland after the comedian made an anti-Israel joke.
“As a comedian, I do push boundaries in creating humor; it’s part of my job,” the comedian, 55, said in a post shared across his various social media accounts. “This inevitably creates divided opinions but I am staunchly anti-war and anti-bully. I regret any stress caused to the audience and venue staff members.”
Hunter also re-posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, messages of support, including one that said in part: “Stop saying ‘antisemitism’ to shut down criticism of the actions of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu/Israel.”
During his Sunday night stand-up comedy show “Fluffy Fluffy Beavers” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Hunter joked that having an abusive wife who complains about being abused herself is “like being married to Israel.” While most of the audience laughed at the joke, a couple in the front row shouted “Not funny.”
The Daily Telegraph‘s chief theater critic Domenic Cavendish, who was in the audience reviewing the show, reported that when the couple said they were from Israel, other audience members began shouting expletives at them like “f—k off,” told them to leave the gig, made booing sounds, and verbally targeted them with barbs such as “genocidal maniac,” “you’re not welcome,” and “free Palestine.” The incident took place five minutes midway into the show and the “theater full of people erupted in vocal animosity at an Israeli couple who had briefly heckled Hunter,” according to Cavendish.
Hunter doubled down by telling the Israeli couple, one of whom is disabled: “I’ve been waiting for you all summer, where the f—k you been? You can say it’s not funny to you, but if you say it to a room full of people who laughed, you look foolish.” After the Israeli women “remonstrated with the audience,” according to Cavendish, Hunter responded, “Look at you making everyone love Israel even more.”
The Israeli couple were still being heckled by audience members as they left the venue. “That tells me that I still got voltage,” Hunter told spectators after the couple left the venue, seemingly satisfied with the outcome.
Hunter afterwards made a joke about needing a subscription to access the website of The Jewish Chronicle, which is not true. “Typical f—king Jews, they won’t tell you anything unless you subscribe,” he said before adding, “It’s just a joke.”
Police in Scotland told the BBC that it is “reviewing the circumstances” of the incident.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a British charity, said Hunter’s comments were “extremely concerning” and although comedians are “rightly given broad latitude, they also have a responsibility to their audience.”
“Watching on and cracking jokes as Jews are hounded out of your show is a sickening low that cannot be disguised as comedy,” CAA added.
At the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Hunter made a joke during his show about it being illegal to deny the Holocaust in Austria. Hunter joked that he had “a good mind to go to Austria, stand in the street, and say the Holocaust didn’t happen,” only to end up getting arrested and then telling a judge in court that he was talking about the Rwandan holocaust.
In a separate incident that took place at the festival this year, Jewish actress Miriam Margolyes stirred controversy when she described the fictional Charles Dickens character Fagin as “Jewish and vile.”
The post American Comedian Proclaims He’s ‘Anti-Bully’ After Israeli Couple Heckled Out of Venue Following Anti-Israel Joke first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.