Guy Hochman's North American tour continues to make headlines: Ahead of a scheduled performance in Beverly Hills, the venue hosting it issued a bizarre statement banning the Israeli comedian, but later reversed it.
The Beverly Hills Fine Arts Theatre claimed in the initial statement, penned by Michael S. Hall, the President of Screening Services Group, that it had rented the venue "to an event promoter for a stand-up comic for an event on Tuesday, January 27th. We did not ask, nor were we given any information on the performer."
According to Hall, the venue began receiving complaints about the performer on Wednesday. "We researched online and could not find any proof of the accusations other than from the original accuser."
Not finding any proof to the accusations did not suffice for the venue; instead, it said it gave Hochman, through the event promoter, the "opportunity to refute the allegations and to release a press release and post on his social media that he did not support the genocide, rape, starvation, and torture of Palestinian civilians."
Hochman refused to entertain the venue's accusations and was banned from the facility.
"Our company is not political and does not ask the political beliefs of those that rent from us. We want to make it very clear that we don't support genocide against any group anywhere in the world," the statement added.
The announcement set off fury among the Jewish community, with many pointing out that forcing an entertainer to issue a statement disavowing "genocide" just because he is Jewish or Israeli could be grounds for a discrimination lawsuit.
Following the uproar, Mr. Hall backtracked on his initial statements, issuing an apology "to the Jewish community" for "my statement and for how this situation was handled. I understand that my decision caused harm and distress to many people in the community, and I take responsibility for that."
He blamed the decision on the "large volume of messages, including threats of violence," received ahead of the event, saying that under that pressure, "I made the decision to cancel the show without giving the matter the careful thought and judgment it required. That was my mistake."
He noted that "while I do not necessarily agree with the viewpoints of every performer who appears at the theatre, it was wrong to ask any artist to make political or ideological statements as a condition of appearing. Imposing a litmus test of any kind was a mistake and should never have happened."
Attempting to silence accusations of anti-Israel or antisemitic discrimination, Hall stressed that "the Fine Arts Theatre has supported and will continue to support Jewish and Israeli projects, artists, and community events. I am committed to ensuring the theatre remains a place for culture and expression without discrimination," adding that he is "engaging with members of the local Jewish community and will continue to listen, learn, and work with community leaders moving forward."
He concluded that he "sent an email to the performer's representatives and am open to working toward having the performance take place, provided it can be done safely."
Hochman rejected the apology, telling the Hollywood Reporter that it came under pressure from the Jewish community. "Do I think he’s sincere? No. He’s doing it because he was pressured. He doesn’t care. He tested me, like a loyalty test," he added.
"For me, my people come before my career. I don’t care about money. I will never say lies about my people. I will never say things like rape, starvation, or genocide. That is not the story, and I don’t believe it. I’m sorry, but it’s cynical. You can see it," the comic declared in the interview.
Hochman added that he will not return to perform at the venue. "I don’t want to perform there, I won’t bring him my audience, and my people, about 400 ticketholders, don’t want to go there anymore. We’ll find a new venue and do it there. The IAC, Israeli American Council, is looking into doing it through another theater, but I don’t know if it’s available. I only have one day because I fly back to Israel the next day."
Hochman's visit across the pond has been anything but uneventful. Last week, a performance in New York City was canceled at the last minute, after anti-Israel protesters blocked the entrance to the venue.
Earlier that week, Guy Hochman arrived in Toronto, Canada, ahead of a performance at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre. Upon landing at the airport in the city, the comic was detained and interrogated for six hours. He was finally sent on his way, only to be met outside the venue by anti-Israel demonstrators, one of whom attempted to assault him, but injured the comic's assistant instead.