Theatre tells white audience members attending Arts Council-funded venue to ‘check their privilege at the door’

A London theater has told white audience members attending a new Arts Council-funded comedy show at the venue to “show your privilege at the door”.

Soho Theatre, in the capital’s West End, gave the instruction to comedy fans ahead of the Femmes of Color Comedy Club’s performance at the theater on March 25.

The show has been touted as “an unapologetic celebration of comedians of color who aren’t cis men.”

During the concert, a monologue has a routine about Kenya, his country of birth.

The comedian jokes: ‘(Kenya) was a British colony, and when Kenya was a British colony we had to be like the British. We played British board games, we played ‘Guess who’s going to win us over next?’

The phrase “check your privilege” is believed to have originated in the US and urges white people to recognize how they have received undeserved advantages in life thanks to their skin color. The Telegraph reports.

This comes after Soho Theater banned comedian Paul Currie after he “harassed” a Jewish audience member “because he refused to applaud a Palestinian flag” during his show.

Currie is accused of encouraging the crowd to shout “fuck you” and “Free Palestine” at Israeli Liahav Eitan at the London theater last month.

Following the incident, Soho Theater said the criticized comedian will not be invited to perform at the venue again, adding that his actions were “unacceptable and have no place on our stages.”

The company said it would not tolerate “bullying of audience members, acts of anti-Semitism or any other form of racism” and is now working with the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism to speak to affected audience members.

The theatre, which emphasizes diversity, receives £614,582 a year from Arts Council England (ACE).

While announcing its now-closed Writers’ Lab 2023-24 program, the venue encouraged applicants who identify as LGBTQ+, disabled, or as people of the global majority, which is defined as those who identify as ‘Black Caribbean, Black African , South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern or Latinx’.

Comedian Graham Linehan told The Telegraph: “The thing about comedy is that it’s already inclusive. The best comedians (Dave Chappelle, Shane Gillis, Louis CK) make fun of everyone, often to the delight of their targets, because the comedy is true and the public doesn’t like to be lied to.’

An ACE spokesperson said: ‘We support fantastic, high-quality cultural work that caters for a wide range of different tastes of people across the country, from programs that encourage children to read and learn musical instruments to community choirs; and from a grand opera to an exceptional theater that tours around the world.

“Decisions about arts programming and the day-to-day operation of our funded organizations rest with their management team and board of directors.”