Venue staff cited 'safety concerns'

Two comedians have had their Edinburgh Fringe shows cancelled because they are Jewish.

Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon were told they could no long perform at the Whistlebinkies Free Fringe venue because of ‘safety concerns’ raised by staff 

Creeger was set to perform her show Ultimate Jewish Mother, while Mr Simon was due to host a Jew-O-Rama showcase gig for Jewish comics.

The social media pages of Jew Talkin' To Me, the podcast they both host, posted: ‘Despite having worked with the venue for many years, managers at Whistlebinkies have cited bar staff discomfort at hosting Jewish shows, leaving both performers out in the wilderness. 

'Philip and Rachel are hurt and saddened by this shocking cancellation of Jewish voices and hope alternative venues can be found.’

Free Fringe CEO Luke Meredith told Chortle: 'The decision not to host the two shows was taken by the venue alone. So far as we understand, this was a staff decision based on last year’s experience when they experienced a significant rise in both "Free Palestine" and Zionist graffiti, together with police notices that they said made them feel unsafe. 

'The matter was first brought to our attention in late May, after the print deadline for the brochure had passed. I thought at the time that, having explained the police were only taking precautions and no actual threats had been made,  and that moving them after they were already advertised in print might be detrimental, that the matter had been resolved. Apparently however it had been understood that we were to move the shows. 

'I was made aware of this a week ago and since then we have been working with the shows to try and find them a suitable replacement slot, including approaching other organisations. Nothing has been possible so far but we welcome any offer of help. If anyone has a space in central Edinburgh that would like to host them, we would be happy to run it.'

Chortle has approached both Whistlebinkies and the Festival Fringe Society for comment.

Simon will still be going to the Fringe, which starts next week, with his crowd work show Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way? and kids-telling-jokes show School's Out Comedy Club.

He posted: ‘Thankfully I’ll still have my 2 other main shows , but this should never have happened!’

Speaking to the Jewish News, he added: ‘Our show is about fun and comedy, not geopolitics. It is disheartening to find out so late in the day that we have lost our venue… Iis hurtful that instead of reassuring the young bar staff who raised concerns, the solution was to remove the Jews from the bill. This is emblematic of the problem facing Jewish artists and performers in the UK today.’

Creeger added: ‘Sadly, this is part of an ongoing problem faced by Jewish performers in this country. We are being cancelled and often silently boycotted.’

She previously wrote an article for the newspaper saying: ‘Virtually every Jewish performer I know has witnessed antisemitism in the industry and in recent months the situation has escalated.’

Published: 25 Jul 2025