6 days Ago By Evening Standard
A London theatre is being sued at the High Court by a comedian who received a lifetime ban and was branded “antisemitic” after a clash with a Jewish audience member. Paul Currie was at the centre of an antisemitism storm in February last year after the incident at the end of the final night of his one-man show, Shtoom, at the Soho Theatre . The comic unveiled a Palestinian flag on stage during his hour-long routine, and reportedly got into an altercation with an audience member at the end while encouraging a standing ovation.
News reports at the time suggested the audience member, who is Jewish, had refused to stand, blaming the production of the Palestinian flag, and Currie was then accused of “aggressively” asking him to leave. The Northern Irish comedian has now brought a libel claim, accusing the Soho Theatre Company of damaging his reputation with one of its press statements about the incident. Currie says he did not know the audience member was Jewish at the time, and he disputes some of the public characterisation of the incident.
Mr Justice Nicklin oversaw a preliminary hearing in the case on Thursday, to determine the meaning the public would have drawn from the Soho Theatre statement. It read: “ Soho Theatre will not tolerate intimidation of audience members due to their nationality, race, religion or beliefs. “On Saturday evening, following the end of Paul Currie’s show Shtoom, Jewish members of the audience were subjected to verbal abuse and the performer aggressively demanding they leave the theatre.
“Such appalling actions are unacceptable and have no place on our stages, now or ever. We will not be inviting Paul Currie back to perform at our venue. “Whilst we robustly support the right of artists to express a wide range of views in their shows, intimidation of audience members, acts of antisemitism or any other forms of racism will not be tolerated at Soho Theatre.
“We are continuing our investigation, discussing the incident with that evening’s audience and consulting with the police. We are working with the Campaign Against Antisemitism to meet with members of the audience who were affected. We are taking professional advice to safeguard the much-valued inclusivity of Soho Theatre.
” The theatre, which has charitable status, has operated from a former synagogue in Dean Street, Soho, since 2000. Gervase de Wilde, representing the theatre in the High Court on Thursday, said the two sides do not dispute that the statement “conveyed the imputation that (Mr Currie) was antisemitic”. The court was asked to determine whether parts of the theatre’s statement should be classed as fact or opinion.
Mr de Wilde argued the theatre had been “clear” that the allegations against Currie “go no further than him having misconducted himself towards Jewish audience members”, and his knowledge of their race or religion is “irrelevant”. The comedian’s show, which ran over three nights at the Soho theatre, was 60-minutes long and was billed as non-verbal, entertaining the audience instead through a mixture of mime, music, and audience participation. Currie claims the theatre’s press statement suggested to readers that he had “intimidated audience members because he had identified them to be Jewish”, and he had “aggressively” demanded they leave “because he had identified them to be Jewish”.
He also argues that the theatre had suggested his alleged conduct was racist and could led to a criminal charge. In his preliminary ruling, the judge rejected the suggestion that the theatre’s statement had gone as far as to allege Currie abused audience members “because they were Jewish”. He also concluded that the police investigation had been mentioned as a fact, rather than as the theatre’s opinion of Currie’s alleged conduct.
The judge found the meaning of the statement to be: “Following the end of the claimant’s show, the claimant had verbally abused Jewish members of the audience and aggressively demanded that they leave the theatre, and there were grounds to investigate whether by so doing the claimant had committed a criminal offence. “This conduct was a) intimidating and antisemitic b) appalling and unacceptable, and c) inconsistent with the values of Soho Theatre, and justified the theatre in refusing to allow the claimant the opportunity to perform at the Soho theatre in the future.” When launching the legal action last year, Currie’s lawyers released a statement saying: “The theatre said his conduct during the show was antisemitic - he vehemently denies this.
“The theatre's press statement suggesting that he was antisemitic went viral. “This has harmed his reputation as a liberal/left comedian who is against all racism and he feels compelled to challenge the accusation.” Currie’s legal team immediately signalled the possibility of an appeal against Mr Justice Nicklin’s ruling.
The libel case is now expected to move forward towards a possible trial..
