What has he done now? Him and that fox botherer really make me question if I would hire a lawyer or just try to represent myself if the Southend celeb PD came knocking
Jack Monroe #586 She can only but dream of being a lyrical dance flap
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When I tell you I RAN here as soon as I saw it
MurielSnark
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As far as I can work out, it went down like this.
Reginald D Hunter had a stand up comedy show at Edinburgh Fringe. He made a gag comparing the State of Israel to an abusive spouse, apparently. Two people in the audience took exception and started heckling, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Hunter apologised later for the joke but an upcoming show of his has been cancelled by organisers.
A reporter from the Daily Mail covered the story, saying that the couple were Israeli, named Shimon and Talia, and that they were hounded out of the theatre by other patrons. This was then picked up and reported widely, including in the Israeli press.
Except that it didn't go down quite like that.
Sangita Myska was also in the audience and she refutes the testimony that the audience were so aggressive that they forced this couple to leave. Others on Twitter have weighed in to support her version of events.
A subsequent police enquiry has found there was nothing further to investigate. Hunter's gag may have been crude and offensive but he has also fallen prey to the culture wars on this. He didn't contravene any freedom of expression limitations (hate speech, incitement to violence, defamation etc) and the police have found there was no violence perpetrated against Shimon or Talia.
Now, it transpires that Shimon and Talia were not an Israeli couple who just happened to be in the audience that night. It was none other than Mark Lewis and his partner, both of whom have form in loud pro-Israel actions. The DM journalist must have known who they were as they are well known, their photos are out on the internet and the journalist, herself, is on social media proclaiming herself a "proud Zionist".
Mark and his partner Mandy seem to have attended that performance with the intention of disrupting it.
Surely, misrepresenting oneself, claiming to be someone you are not, and deliberately causing trouble at a public arts event are not conducive to being a lawyer who has a public duty of trust, probity and truth-telling? Wherever you stand on Israel and Palestine, this behaviour surely needs to be sanctioned? Will be interesting to see what happens on this.
Reginald D Hunter had a stand up comedy show at Edinburgh Fringe. He made a gag comparing the State of Israel to an abusive spouse, apparently. Two people in the audience took exception and started heckling, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Hunter apologised later for the joke but an upcoming show of his has been cancelled by organisers.
A reporter from the Daily Mail covered the story, saying that the couple were Israeli, named Shimon and Talia, and that they were hounded out of the theatre by other patrons. This was then picked up and reported widely, including in the Israeli press.
Except that it didn't go down quite like that.
Sangita Myska was also in the audience and she refutes the testimony that the audience were so aggressive that they forced this couple to leave. Others on Twitter have weighed in to support her version of events.
A subsequent police enquiry has found there was nothing further to investigate. Hunter's gag may have been crude and offensive but he has also fallen prey to the culture wars on this. He didn't contravene any freedom of expression limitations (hate speech, incitement to violence, defamation etc) and the police have found there was no violence perpetrated against Shimon or Talia.
Now, it transpires that Shimon and Talia were not an Israeli couple who just happened to be in the audience that night. It was none other than Mark Lewis and his partner, both of whom have form in loud pro-Israel actions. The DM journalist must have known who they were as they are well known, their photos are out on the internet and the journalist, herself, is on social media proclaiming herself a "proud Zionist".
Mark and his partner Mandy seem to have attended that performance with the intention of disrupting it.
Surely, misrepresenting oneself, claiming to be someone you are not, and deliberately causing trouble at a public arts event are not conducive to being a lawyer who has a public duty of trust, probity and truth-telling? Wherever you stand on Israel and Palestine, this behaviour surely needs to be sanctioned? Will be interesting to see what happens on this.
CabalofBolorneaise
VIP Member
It does seem that the guy was being anti semitic though:
most reports cite this - After the couple did leave the venue, the comedian joked about trying to read a review of his act on The Jewish Chronicle website, but said: ‘Typical bleeping Jews, they won’t tell you anything unless you subscribe.’
Which is unacceptable regardless of someone going to stir up trouble.
In short it seems like everyone involved is the hole in this one.
ETA: this also sums up the choice a lot of people online are making to concentrate on one comment and say he’s not antisemitic he was just criticising Israel while ignoring the blatantly antisemitic comment he also made - ie the actual reason people are saying he made an antisemitic comment https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/why-is-the-media-ignoring-reginald-hunters-antisemitic-jibe/
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Here’s the tweet, I didn’t get the phrasing right but same gist. The way he has phrased it is definitely as if they know each other, so the journalist was in on the lie.
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I remember hearing the story and thought it was crappy behaviour from people. Not going into the whole debate here but there has been crappy behaviour and anti semitism on the marches and in public here in the UK so I don’t see why people don’t just focus on highlighting public displays instead of going out to try to start something.
on a separate note is that the same comedian who was accused of being a bit touchy feely or was that someone else?
on a separate note is that the same comedian who was accused of being a bit touchy feely or was that someone else?
Yeah RDH is a controversial character to say the least, I am definitely not defending him as I think he’s detestable for other things he’s said in the past. But also true is that he was clearly targeted by them, probably because they knew he’d made a comment about Israel and they went there specifically to make a fuss and drama. It was 100% planned.
CabalofBolorneaise
VIP Member
Oh it absolutely was. They went to a known antisemitic comedian to point out his antisemitism, totally planned.
The bit I don’t like is the glossing over of the blatant antisemitism after they left and the attempts (by hellsite people, not Frauen) to play it all down as if they accused a perfectly innocent man of antisemitism.
They were arseholes going there to call him out when they knew what they were getting going there. He’s an hole who makes blatant antisemitic comments. Everyone is an hole in the situation.
ThePickledCrab
Active member
Is it an inexplicable egg though?
MurielSnark
VIP Member
Doubtful that Jack has anything much to say on this situation. She's basically a provincial little Englander.
Nobody needs to hear from her on this incredibly complex issue. Nobody.
Time for a new thread?
The thing I don’t understand is why they made up the story because what actually happened would have been enough to upset the people that were upset by it. The only thing I can think of is that they were planning to “be themselves” and come out with their own identities (which they’d done lots of times before on protests and online) but then they went too far in the way that they were speaking to the audience (what they allegedly said was horrific and I’m not posting it here) and then realised they couldn’t put their real names to it.
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True but when have you ever known her to not stick her oar into things she has no idea about and has barely glanced at the headlines for? Read: her entire pov career, politics, Black Lives Matter, need I go on?
SweetTransvestite
VIP Member
Haha that was from the other Eamonn interaction in the horror shed!
Remember when someone claiming to be eamon’s cousin came on here? wtf was that about!
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This is from years ago but scofe and Amanda reallly helped her along with this too.
Either big choco is the head honcho chief grandmaster flash of the free masons or guest has photos of them all in the snow.
She's just so utterly bleeping repugnant and clearly, soooooo very far out of her depth on all these broadcast slots.
So much so, all I can hear is (actual) Celine Dion belting out the theme from Titanic.
Terrible.
MavisBeacon
VIP Member
Mmm yummy grainy dinner
CabalofBolorneaise
VIP Member
I think it is often a difficult one because people like him have realised that as long as you make a quip about Israel then you can go on to be as blatantly antisemitic as you like because a certain subset of people will defend you to the hilt as merely having LeGiTiMaTe CrItIcISm Of IsRaEl. See - basically all the coverage of this now acting as if the poor bloke merely said a word against Israel and was branded unnecessarily.
But the way Mark mate and his wife went about it was entirely wrong too.
MurielSnark
VIP Member
I think you're right in that there are seasoned provocateurs in both the Israel and Palestine camps. However, it must be a new low for a solicitor (especially one specialising in defamation and freedom of expression) to engage in such deliberately crappy behaviour. I can't see how one's professional reputation won't be tarnished by this. I certainly wouldn't want him acting for me, in any capacity.
CabalofBolorneaise
VIP Member
I think his reputation had already been fairly fully tarnished by all the other stuff he’s done, this is merely the icing on a very large cake. He’s absolutely not professional in the slightest and I haven’t disputed that - merely pointed that the guy he accused is an antisemite and not because of the joke about Israel rather than being the poor innocent bloke falling victim to people’s agendas for making a joke about Israel.
MurielSnark
VIP Member
I'm not disagreeing with you. Just thinking about Lewis, in particular, and his professional standing. We are in a place where scientists and doctors are being jailed and hauled over the coals by their professional bodies when they engage in climate change activism. I think there are parallels here so am very interested to see whether any sanctions will be applied to Lewis after this incident.
Captainmouse
VIP Member
Calling @Ralphiegirl you have 
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