Israeli comedian Yohay Sponder said his show in Amsterdam over the weekend was canceled after the Boom Chicago comedy club received threats.
Boom Chicago said it had received “significant negative reactions” online and from visitors, including responses that were “outright threatening.”
“We began to worry about the safety of our performers, audience, and colleagues,” it said.
“Therefore, we made the difficult decision to cancel the performance. We are deeply saddened that this situation has escalated into a polarized debate about Gaza.“In our 32 years of existence, we have never experienced anything like this. Very nasty criticism has come at us from all sides, even though we genuinely tried to do what was best for everyone.”
Postponing the trip
Boom Chicago said it believed in freedom of expression without hatred and had offered to help Sponder relocate to another venue.
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On Monday, Sponder said the show had been postponed, and a new date and location would be announced soon.
“We’re working on a new, bigger venue – more beautiful, more central, better,” he said. “We’re going to get together and laugh as Jews are supposed to.”
Sponder thanked his fans for their support.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Netherlands praised Boom Chicago’s decision to cancel the show.
“Yohay Sponder is a cultural ambassador for Israel, tasked with whitewashing Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians,” it said Sunday in a post on Instagram. “Where other cultural ambassadors do so with music and art, Yohay Sponder chooses hate speech, dehumanization of Palestinians, anti-Muslim racism, and denying and ridiculing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Sponder’s comedy routines make fun of Jewish and Israeli life and recently have included material about the Israel-Hamas War and mocked criticism of Israel’s actions.