The Edinburgh Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, is getting under way, and the conflict in Gaza seems to be feeding into what’s happening.
From shows cancelled to artists divided, it’s no joke.
Rachel Creeger has had a distressing start to her stand-up run.
Two weeks ago, out of the blue, she says the venue Whistle Binkies rang her and fellow Jewish comedian Philip Simon to cancel their slots.
Image: Rachel Creeger says her Edinburgh shows have been cancelled by the venue
She told Sky News it’s come down to “what we bring to that venue by being ourselves”.
The pair were allegedly given three reasons for the cancellation.
One was linked to a “vigil for IDF soldiers” that she says the venue initially claimed had been held during her performance last year but, according to Creeger, later had to admit hadn’t taken place.
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“That never happened,” she insists.
Rachel says she was told her previous performances there had resulted in the venue having to pay for graffiti to be removed from toilet doors every three days.
“Again, we didn’t see evidence of that at all,” she says.
“We’re not the ones writing it… but if it was bothering them and they worried it was bothering us, then maybe we’d have volunteered to help them – or to help clean it.”
She claims she was also told the venue was responding to staff concerns about their own safety should Creeger’s show go ahead.
“It’s a pub in Edinburgh, it’s a music venue, they themselves have bouncers most evenings… And perhaps they might say if there’s a concern about extra risk, we should do all we can to make our performers safe.”
‘More unites us than divides us’
Creeger says her show is in no way political.
“It’s based around the idea that a Jewish mother can answer any question, solve any problem… I will make it better for you, the audience gets to write a question and put it into a chicken soup pot… The reason I kind of love it is because by the end of it people leave feeling actually more unites us than divides us.
“We’re not the people making the trouble,” she adds.
“I’ve certainly never started a protest, I’ve never done graffiti, I’ve never caused harm anywhere; my show doesn’t do that, my show is lovely.”
As Britain’s only touring comedian who is also a practising Orthodox Jew, she says since the 7 October attack she and other Jewish comedians are experiencing a significant increase in antisemitism while performing.
“We’re not Israeli, we’re British Jews,” says Creeger.
“The situation there is horrendous and distressing and painful for people of any number of religions and races… To be kind of scapegoated with dog whistles around that is clearly very, very unpleasant.”
The Fringe Society has said its role is to provide support and advice to all participants at the festival “with a vision to give anyone a stage and everyone a seat”.
A spokesperson explained they don’t manage or programme venues and “we understand that the show cancellations have been a choice made by the venue”.
Whistle Binkies hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment.
Police Scotlandtold Sky News it hasn’t “received any reports of concern” about Creeger’s show.
There are, of course, huge sensitivities when it comes to discussing what’s going on in the world right now.
American stand-up Zainab Johnson is making her Fringe debut this year.
While her show Toxically Optimistic is all about putting a positive spin on life’s challenges, she doesn’t shy away from tackling the serious stuff if it comes up.
Image: Zainab Johnson says her show doesn’t shy away from tackling serious issues
‘Shows becoming serious is a part of life’
“If I’m doing a show and somebody wants to yell out Free Palestine, well let’s talk about it,” she tells Sky News.
“I am the comedian where, if the show has to become serious, it becomes serious. That’s a part of life, you know?”
Johnson adds: “I’m from the United States and they talk about free speech all the time, but then you find out free speech ain’t really free because the moment you say something that is contrary to what the majority feels or wants to be heard, then you can be penalised…
“But isn’t that the beauty of this festival? So many people just telling their story, whatever their story is.”
Comedian Andy Parsons has had a long-standing career in satire, appearing regularly on shows like BBC2’s Mock the Week.
While he has the likes of Elon Musk and Nigel Farage in his sights for his stand-up show, Please #@!$ Off to Mars, they’re not his only focus.
Image: Andy Parsons says comedians ‘should be able to talk about anything’
He says stand-ups “should be able to talk about anything and find a way to get that to work, including Israel and Gaza”.
He explains jokingly: “I’ve got some stuff about Israel in the show and obviously it can work both ways. It can give you some publicity and obviously it can get you cancelled.”
Irish-Palestinian comedian Sami Abu Wardeh – a clown comic – is the only Palestinian doing a full run of a comedy show at this year’s Fringe.
“My show is clowning, it’s storytelling, it’s even got a bit of stand-up and it’s heavily inspired by the comedian Dave Allen, who is one of my comedy heroes,” says Wardeh.
“It felt really important that I come and just exist in this space, as a Palestinian, and speak my words and have my voice heard.
“I’ve used all of these skills to make a show that is about really what’s going on in this country and in the world at the moment.
Image: Irish-Palestinian comedian Sami Abu Wardeh is the only Palestinian doing a full run at this year’s Fringe
“I think most people in this country are going to recognise that Britain is in a very dark place… and I’m hoping to reach those people and to give a voice to the dissatisfaction.”
‘Plans in place’ for disruption
He’s had to consider the possibility of protests and take steps to “make sure that the audience and myself are safe and secure”.
“We have plans in place to know how to deal with people who are disruptive,” he says. “And particularly anybody who wants to bring any kind of bigoted views into the room.”
As one of the very few Palestinians at the festival, Wardeh says it is “not only my duty” but “an honour to be here and to represent my people”.
He also feels it’s wrong that Rachel Creeger has had her venue cancelled.
“I sincerely support free speech and I think everyone should be able to get on the stage and say what they want, within reason obviously,” says Wardeh.
Rachel says she hopes to confirm a new venue for her show on social media in the coming days.
“We’ve thankfully had a number of venues approach us to say that they have space available, so I’m hopeful that I’ll get – if not a full – then at least part of the run for the show.”
Since arriving in Edinburgh she’s been overwhelmed by how many hugs of support she’s received.
“To have super high-profile comedians put their heads above the parapet to say ‘this is wrong’, it means so much…In a way the story is that someone’s done something very hurtful… But look at all the love, that’s amazing.”
Sami Abu Wardeh’s Palestine: Peace de Resistance is at the Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh until 24 August Andy Parsons’ Please #@!$ Off to Mars is at Pleasance Courtyard’s Cabaret Bar until 10 August Zainab Johnson: Toxically Optimistic is at Pleasance Courtyard until 24 August
A Strictly Come Dancing star has been arrested on suspicion of rape.
The unnamed man, who is in his 30s, was also detained over a separate allegation of “non-consensual intimate image abuse”.
The Met Police said an arrest was made in east London on Friday in a joint investigation with HertfordshireConstabulary, following a “third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences”.
It is understood the arrest is not related to the upcoming production of Strictly Come Dancing – the 23rd series, which is in the rehearsal stage and is due to launch in September.
“On Friday 22 August, officers arrested a man in his 30s in east London on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse,” a spokesperson for the Met said in a statement.
The investigation is in its early stages and inquiries are ongoing, the spokesperson added.
The man was released on bail on Saturday until a date in November, the force said, according to BBC News.
Hertfordshire Constabulary did not add anything further.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.”
Taylor Swift has announced she is getting married to her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce.
The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
The announcement was liked more than 1.7 million times just over 30 minutes after it was posted.
Image: Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift
Swiftand Kelcestarted their relationship in July 2023, after the three-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast New Heights that he tried and failed to meet the singer at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City.
Rumours grew that the couple were dating after Swift was spotted at a number of Chiefs games. On her seventh time in the stands, she brought her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, along.
Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in November 2023: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming [to the Eras Tour]?’
“I had somebody playing Cupid… She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”
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From January: Taylor cheers on Travis after Chiefs win
Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, and announced her 12th album, titled The Life Of A Showgirl.
Speaking to her now-fiance and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift said it was inspired by the Eras Tour – and also talked about Travis’s attempt at meeting her two years ago.
While she said his plan to give her his number on a friendship bracelet was a “wild, romantic gesture,” she joked he “didn’t do any proper logistical planning” and thought he would be allowed backstage.
“Because he knows the elevator lady, he thought he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room,” she added. “That’s how it works in 1973.”
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplowsaid after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
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Despite rumours he would retire after losing this year’s Super Bowl, Kelce will play for the Kansas City Chiefs again this season.
He told GQ magazine his on-field performances “slipped a little bit” as he started acting, and added: “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”
A 16-year-old has been convicted in Germany for supporting a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Austria last year.
The teenager, named Mohammad A, who cannot be fully identified under Germany’sprivacy laws, was convicted of preparing a serious act of violence and supporting a terrorist act of violence abroad.
He was handed a suspended 18-month sentence on Tuesday. According to the court, he made a “comprehensive confession” at his trial, which was held behind closed doors because of his age.
German judges found that the defendant, a Syrian national then aged 14, supported the ideology of the Islamic State group at the time.
The court heard he was also in contact via social media with a young man in Austriawho planned to attack a Swiftconcert in Vienna, had sent him a video with bomb-building instructions, and organised contact with an IS member.
All three of Swift’s concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were cancelled in August last year after a terror plot was uncovered by authorities.
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Swiftie on cancelled Vienna show
Concert organisers had expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the directorate of state security and intelligence, added at the time that the suspect was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels”.
Swift later called the decision to cancel her shows in Austria “devastating,” and said: “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.
“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”