A publicly-funded venue has told white audience members to “check their privilege at the door”, sparking outrage.
The “Femmes of Colour Comedy Club”, playing at the Soho Theatre in London, is billed as “an unapologetic celebration of comedians of colour that are not cis-men”.
Attendees are instructed: “White audience members are encouraged to check their privilege at the door.”
The expression originated in the US and is widely understood to be a call for white people to consider how their skin colour has given them advantages.
The “Femmes of Colour Comedy Club”, playing at the Soho Theatre in London, is billed as “an unapologetic celebration of comedians of colour that are not cis-men”
PA/X
In footage from the night, one of the comedian, who was born in Kenya joked about British colonialism.
She said: “[Kenya] was a British colony, and when Kenya was a British colony we had to be like the British.
“We played British board games, we played ‘Guess Who’s Going to Conquer Us Next?’”
GB News has contacted Soho Theatre for comment.
Soho Theatre receives £614,582 per year from Arts Council England (ACE) and places a strong emphasis on diversity.
For it Writers’ Lab programme 2023-24, the theatre said: “We actively welcome applicants who identify as LGBTQ+, disabled, people of the global majority and people living in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.”
Soho Theatre receives £614,582 per year from Arts Council England (ACE) and places a strong emphasis on diversity
PA
It added that the global majority meant “people who identify as Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern or Latinx.”
This latest episode comes as the Soho Theatre was slammed last month when comedian Paul Currie allegedly encouraged his audience to chant “get the f*** out” and “free Palestine” during his performance at the theatre.
Liahav Eitan, a Jewish man, was allegedly told to “get the f*** out of the show” by Currie.
According to Eitan, Currie had shown the crowd a Ukrainian flag followed by a Palestinian one and invited them to stand and applaud.
The comedian sarcastically thanked the pair for not standing and clapping.
He then asked if they had enjoyed the gig when Eitan said that he “had until the Palestine flag.”
Speaking to GB News Eitan said: “He completely turned on me. He started shouting that he’s from Belfast and that he knows everything about ceasefires and then he started cursing. He told us to ‘get the f*** out.’
“Because of where we were sitting, the only way out was through the stage. So we had to pass right in front of him.
“Me and my friend, we gathered our things. We got on the stage and we started walking towards the exit.
“Meanwhile he produced his Palestine flag again and and waved it at us.
“He shouted some more curses at us and started chanting ‘ceasefire now, free Palestine’ trying to insight the entire audience.
“People in the audience started joining in, somebody from the first row shouted at us ‘shame people.’
“Not a single person stepped in to defend us. What I did see from the stage were two other couples running towards the exits and I immediately knew that they were the other Jewish members of the audience.”
Source Agencies
