An Israeli man and his friends were ‘hounded out of a Soho theatre after comedian Paul Currie encouraged his audience to chant ‘get the f*** out’ and ‘free Palestine’.
The incident took place at London’s Soho Theatre during a stand up show by comedian Paul Currie on Saturday night.
The ‘absurdist’ comedian is alleged to have produced a Palestinian and Ukrainian flag to use as props as his show came to a close.
One eye witness said they began to feel ‘uneasy’ after the flags were produced.
They claimed: ‘Minutes later, the comedian had encouraged the audience to stand at the end of the show, a kind of standing ovation, and when we all sat down again, he looked to a young man in the second row and said: “you didn’t stand, why? Didn’t you enjoy the show?”‘
Paul Currie is an ‘absurdist’ comedian who is from Belfast
Soho Theatre in north London was where the incident occurred
The Soho Theatre issued a full apology for the incident
An Instagram post by Paul Currie attending a pro-Palestine protest
The eye witness added: ‘The young man who we soon realised was Israeli, replied: “I enjoyed the show until you brought out the Palestinian flag”.
‘Paul Currie retorted “get out of my show”, which instantaneously escalated in to screaming at this young man, repeatedly shouting “leave my fucking show, now!”.
The comedian allegedly continued shouting at the young man to get out as he and his partner rose to leave.
The eye witness said they also got up to leave and added that it ‘felt like the entire audience were on their feet shouting “free Palestine” and “get out”.
The Soho Theatre has apologised for the ‘upset and hurt’ caused by the incident to some of their customers and added that they are looking into it.
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 of February which has caused upset and hurt to members of audience attending and others.
‘We take this very seriously and are looking into the detail of what happened as thoroughly, as sensitively, and as quickly as we can.
Paul Currie at a pro-Palestine march
‘It is important to us that Soho Theatre is welcoming and inclusive place for all.’
Campaign Against Antisemitism said they are assisting Jewish guests who were reportedly hounded out of the Soho Theatre in London.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism 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.’
The Soho Theatre used to be a Synagogue which makes the horrifying ordeal as one twitter users pointed out in the wake of the incident.
has contacted Paul Currie for comment.
In October last year, the Metropolitan Police reported that anti-Semitic offences have soared in London by more than 1,353 per cent compared to the year before.
The horrifying murder of 1,400 Israelis on October 7 ignited a significant spike in hate crime across Britain, with 218 anti-Semitic offences reported in London between October 1 and 18, compared with 15 during the same period in 2022.
And the Union of Jewish student’s welfare hotline has had more than 150 calls since October 7, from people reporting offences including verbal abuse and intimidation.
In one incident from October last year, which many Jewish people found terrifying, a tube driver chanted ‘Free, Free Palestine’, through the train’s Tannoy system before some commuters responded, ‘Palestine’.