American comic Reginald D Hunter is embroiled in an anti-semitism row after Israeli couple are hounded by ‘pro-Palestine’ audience at his gig who told them to ‘f*** off’ in the ‘ugliest Edinburgh Fringe moment ever’

Two Israeli spectators were shouted at, called ‘genocide’ and told they were not welcome. Other spectators shouted ‘Free Palestine’ at them. They were protesting a joke by stand-up comedian Reginald D Hunter. Anti-Semitism campaigners called the incident tonight ‘a disgusting low point that cannot be disguised as comedy’.

The US-born entertainer was halfway through a sold-out concert at the Edinburgh Festival on Sunday night – described by one theatre critic as the “ugliest Edinburgh Fringe moment ever” – when the commotion began.

Hunter, 55, joked that watching a recent Channel 5 documentary on domestic violence made him think of Israel.

When a woman told how she had been abused by her husband, the comedian said he thought to himself, “My God, it’s like I’m married to Israel.”

As the joke drew laughter from the audience, a couple in the front row loudly shouted “not funny,” before revealing they were Israeli.

Dominic Cavendish, Chief Theatre Critic for The Telegraphwas in the audience when the commotion broke out.

Cavendish wrote a review of the show, giving it one star: ‘The pair, who said they were from Israel, then had to listen to their audience shout abuse at them (‘f— off’ among them) and tell them to get out of here – with slow handclaps, boos and chants of ‘genocide maniac’, ‘you’re not welcome’ and ‘free Palestine’ all part of the toxic mix.’

Rather than confront the audience about their hostility toward the unsuspecting shouters, Hunter apparently told them, “You can say you don’t find it funny, but when you say it to a room full of people who are laughing at it, you look ridiculous.”

The couple, one of whom was disabled, are said to have subsequently left the show after Hunter “openly laughed at” them and other audience members continued to laugh at them.

Hunter wasn’t done with the couple and, even as they left, told a story about how his partner had complained that he couldn’t access the Jewish Chronicle website because it was behind a paywall.

He is reported to have said, “Typical fucking Jews, they don’t tell you anything unless you subscribe.” “It’s just a joke,” he added.

The incident has sparked outrage among some social media users, who described it as “horrible” and “anti-Semitic.”

One of them wrote: ‘His behavior was appalling – but what did the audience think when they cursed two strangers who happened to be Israelis? Hateful, toxic, disgusting stuff.’

Another wrote: ‘It’s so disappointing that someone from a minority has no empathy for racism against another minority (and even encourages it).’

A third said: ‘When your jokes are at the expense of [a] ‘Bullyed minority, you’re not a comedian – you’re a bully.’

Hunter is no stranger to controversy and has previously had to defend himself against accusations of anti-Semitic remarks at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, The Times defeated.

In 2006, Jamie Glassman, a Jewish writer and producer of The Ali G Show, criticized Hunter after he made a joke about the law in Austria that prohibits Holocaust denial.

Glassman said at the time of Hunter’s show, which was controversially named Pride and Prejudice and Niggas: “Of all the possible targets, of all the things he might want to say, his complaint is that he should not be allowed to repeat the greatest anti-Semitic insult of the past hundred years: that the Holocaust never happened.

Paul Sullivan, Hunter’s publicist at the time, said the comedian simply wanted to convey that it was difficult to make jokes about Jewish people at the time.

In 2006, Israel was involved in a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mr Sullivan said: ‘He’s not making any anti-Jewish comments, he’s just saying it’s very difficult to criticise Jewish people in the world at the moment.

“He wouldn’t use the material if he apologized for it.”

‘Reg just sees it as material for his own show, he writes about things he believes in.’

In 2013, he was again embroiled in a racism storm after performing at the Professional Footballer Association (PFA) awards ceremony.

During that incident peppered his performance with the word “n*****” in front of astonished guests, despite the organization’s strong anti-racism stance.

Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the PFA, said at the time: ‘There were anti-Jewish jokes, there were anti-women jokes, there were anti-Irish jokes, and the repeated use of the ‘N’ word.

“If you were looking for a scenario of absolutely everything we didn’t want that night, I think you had a montage there.”

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘The events described at the Edinburgh Fringe conference are extremely disturbing.

‘Comedians are rightly given a lot of freedom, but they also have a responsibility towards their audience.

‘Reginald D Hunter has gotten some laughs in the past for his Holocaust jokes and another so-called joke about ‘typical f***ing Jews’, but watching and joking as Jews are chased off your show is a disgusting low point that cannot be disguised as comedy.

“We have seen this before in recent months and venues must take a strong stance against this type of behaviour.

“Our attorneys are investigating this incident and we urge anyone who attended the show to contact us confidentially at investigations@antisemitism.org.”

Reginald D Hunter has been asked for comment.