Comic says his phone was hacked

Fast Show comedian Simon Day has blamed hackers after an antisemitic message was posted on his social media feeds.

Many of the star’s followers were shocked yesterday when his accounts on X, Instagram and Facebook shared a photograph of Mel Brooks with the caption: ‘Not all Jewz are cuntz. More political insight tomorrow.’

The 63-year-old quickly removed the message and replace it with one saying: ‘Please ignore last post… someone hacked my phone. Would like to apologise for any offence. I am investigating.'

And his Fast Show co-star Charlie Higson further explained: ‘He’s been hacked sadly. His phone and credit cards were stolen. Simon would never post anything like this. He’s distraught and not sure how to handle it.’

He later added: ‘Losing his phone might be completely coincidental. I don’t know how these things work. I do know that Simon’s not an anti Semite though. People don’t change overnight.’

The original post was highlighted by Jewish entertainers including Friday Night Dinner star Tracy-Ann Oberman,  an actress who was awarded an MBE for countering antisemitism.

She posted a screenshot of the post with the comment: ‘I give you Simon Day from the iconic sketch show The Fast Show. Now either Simon has been hacked or he thinks this is acceptable for a a high profile entertainment comedian to post this Jew Hate.’

I give you Simon Day from the iconic sketch show The Fast Show. Now either Simon has been hacked or he thinks this is acceptable for a a high profile entertainment comedian to post this Jew Hate . Hero to Zero. click on the photo. It’s on Simon’s Instagram and Facebook just not… pic.twitter.com/RGzszZkw8I

— Tracy-Ann Oberman MBE (@TracyAnnO) June 19, 2025

After seeing Day’s retraction, she posted: ‘I mean, what a genius hacker. Managing to download a photo of Mel Brooks and write a gag! Poor Simon.'

And  she later added: ‘Oh Simon is saying he was HACKED. Good. Good of him to elaborate on this heinous post.’

Comic Josh Howie said the initial post demonstrated how ‘ridden the comedy industry is with unrepentant Jew-hate’ – and was not buying Day’s explanation, saying: ‘Let me get this straight. A random mugger stole Simon Day’s wallet and phone. And the first thing this mugger did, whilst coincidentally being a fan of Mel Brooks because there’s a big crossover between credit card/phone thieves and fans of The Producers, was post this very specific offensive post? B..B…B…Bullshit.’

And fellow Jewish stand-up Bennett Arron posted: ‘I do a lot of work with fraud etc and one of the main reasons people hack into accounts is to write shit jokes.'

The controversy comes two weeks after Dawn French apologised over a video in which she was accused of trivialising the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel as a 'bad thing'.

She later said: 'My intention was to mock and point the finger of shame at the behaviour of the cruel leaders on all sides of this atrocious war, who have continued to behave like the worst, dangerous sickening bullies and seem to relish the tyrannical and childish one-upmanship of violence.

'They were my target, but clearly I failed to do that, and that's on me. I apologise unreservedly. I am particularly sorry that my disgust did not figure. It appeared one-sided and that is wrong.'

Published: 20 Jun 2025