16 August 2006
Two stand-up comedians accused of making light of the Holocaust at the Edinburgh Fringe festival have hit back at their critics on Tuesday, igniting a debate about where, if anywhere, to draw the line in comedy. The famously irreverent Fringe is renowned for over-the-top humor, and this year religion has been a popular target of ridicule in a trend welcomed by commentators arguing for freedom of speech over religious sensitivity. But Jamie Glassman, a Jewish comedy writer said at least two comedians had gone too far and reflected broader anti-Jewish sentiment at the festival which he called "shocking". "Stand-up comedy is as good a prism as any through which to look at the changing attitudes in our society," Glassman wrote in an op-ed for "The Times" newspaper. "If my past few days are anything to go by then it is becoming increasingly acceptable to hate the Jews. Again."
One Edinburgh comedian singled out in the article was Reginald D. Hunter, an African-American with a show called "Pride and Prejudice and Niggas". At one point Hunter says he should go to Austria, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust, get arrested for saying Germany's genocide against Jews did not happen, and tell the judge he was talking about the Rwandan holocaust all along. "The joke isn't about the Jews, it is about freedom of thought and freedom of expression," Hunter told the "Reuters" news agency. He referred to the Holocaust as "one of those things considered to be off-limits; that's what I'm poking fun at. There have been loads of holocausts. Jews have the honor of having their holocaust known as 'the Holocaust', and that's fine. That's the way the world works."
Glassman also criticized the Australian comedian Steve Hughes, whose show "Storm" includes a gag that indirectly equates playing Cowboys and Indians' to playing 'Nazis and Jews'. Glassman recounted how at the show he attended audience members shouted "Throw them in the oven" in response to the joke, but Hughes defended his routine and said his remarks were taken out of context. "Australians are far from perfect – I have never played Cops and Aboriginals, and you wouldn't play Nazis and Jews!" He added that he was not responsible for what hecklers shouted during his act, but he did apologiss for describing Richard Perle, a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee in the Pentagon, as 'that f**king Jew'. Hughes' spokesman said the phrase was made "off the cuff" and Hughes regretted using it.
