An Israeli and his friends were “kicked out of a Soho theater after comedian Paul Currie encouraged his audience to chant ‘fuck off’ and ‘Free Palestine’.”
The incident took place at London’s Soho Theater during a show by comedian Paul Currie.
The “absurd” comedian is alleged to have pulled out a Palestinian and Ukrainian flag to use as a prop as his show came to an end on Saturday night.
An eyewitness said he began to feel “uneasy” after the flags were removed.
They claimed: ‘Minutes later, the comedian had encouraged the audience to stand up at the end of the show, a sort of standing ovation, and when we all sat back down, he looked at a young man in the second row and said: “Don’t worry.” You stood up, why? Didn’t you enjoy the show?
Paul Currie is an ‘absurd’ comedian from Belfast
The Soho theater in north London was where the incident occurred.
Soho Theater issued a full apology for the incident.
An Instagram post of Paul Currie attending a pro-Palestine protest
The account of the night continued: “The young man, who we soon learned was Israeli, responded: ‘I enjoyed the show until you brought out the Palestinian flag.’
‘Paul Currie replied “get off my show.” which instantly turned into yelling at this young man, repeatedly yelling “Leave my fucking show, now!”
The comedian allegedly continued yelling at the young man to get off as he and his partner got up to leave.
The witness said they too got up to leave, adding that “it seemed as if the entire audience was on their feet shouting ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Get out.'”
The Soho Theater apologized for the “upset and pain” caused by the incident to some of its customers and added that it was being investigated.
They wrote: ‘We are sorry and saddened by an incident that took place at our venue at the end of a performance of Paul Currie: Shtoom on Saturday 10 February, which caused distress and pain to members of the public in attendance and others.
“We take this very seriously and are investigating the details of what happened as thoroughly, as sensitively and as quickly as we can.”
“It is important to us that Soho Theater is a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said they are helping Jewish guests who were reportedly kicked out of the Soho Theater in London.
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘What members of the Jewish audience have told is appalling, 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 deeply disturbing discriminatory abuse against Jews. Comedians are rightly given wide latitude, but harassing Jews outside cinemas is reminiscent of humanity’s darkest days, and should have no place in central London in 2024.’
The Soho Theater used to be a synagogue, which makes for a terrible experience, as one Twitter user pointed out in the wake of the incident.
MailOnline has contacted Paul Currie for comment.