A comedy festival in Portugal is currently giving people little reason to laugh. The 1st edition of the Lisbon International Humour Festival, Commedia a La Carte Fest, is being overshadowed by controversy, with several Portuguese artists cancelling their shows.
The most recent case is that of actress Inês Aires Pereira, who announced on Saturday that her show “Namastê” was being removed from the comedy festival’s line-up.
The performer wrote on social media that “one of the names persistently defends ideas and acts that I consider indefensible.” She added: “We cannot relativise or normalise a genocide.”
Her criticism did not explicitly mention anyone, but the apparent target seems to be Jerry Seinfeld, the American comedian headlining the event, who has publicly expressed his support for Israel.
The Portuguese actress was not the first to announce she was pulling out. Also on Saturday, the comedy duo Cebola Mol, made up of Eduardo Madeira and Filipe Homem Fonseca, said they would not be taking part in the festival.
“We will celebrate justice, freedom and joy with you on another occasion,” they wrote on social media.
The accompanying image shows an illustration of the comedians and a watermelon, a symbol widely recognised as expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause, especially on social media.
The concert “Tributo Pop” (Carolina Deslandes, Tatanka and Bárbara Tinoco) and the group Conjunto Cuca Monga were the first to withdraw. Comedian Pedro Tochas and visual artist Vhils (Alexandre Farto) followed.
“Thank you to everyone who asked. My name was announced on one of the festival’s posters. I asked for it to be removed and it was. As some people still think I’m taking part, let me be clear: I will not be at MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest,” the artist said on Instagram.
The artists have only announced the cancellation of their shows and their presence, without giving any explanation.
The 1st edition of the Lisbon International Humour Festival, Commedia a La Carte Fest, is scheduled to take place between 29 October and 1 November. Calls for boycotts and cancellations have multiplied, especially on social media.
So far, the organisers have kept the bill unchanged, still featuring names such as Herman José, Clarice Falcão, Matilde Breyner and the quartet César Mourão, Vasco Palmeirim, Pedro Ribeiro and Vera Fernandes, with no public indication that they might reconsider Seinfeld’s presence.
The comedian’s views have become more visible since the 7 October 2023 attacks. Seinfeld met families of victims abducted by Hamas and defended Israel, aligning himself clearly with the Israeli cause during the current conflict.
This change in attitude, after decades in which he avoided commenting on political issues, has become one of the most debated aspects of his recent career.
During an event last year at Duke University in North Carolina, the comedian even compared the Free Palestine movement to the Ku Klux Klan (source in Portuguese) (KKK), a white supremacist organisation.
“When you say ‘Free Palestine’ you are not admitting what you really think. So actually, compared with the Ku Klux Klan, I think the Klan is even a little better in this respect, because they can say openly: ‘We don’t like black people, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honesty.”
The Hamas attack on Israeli soil left around 1,200 people dead and more than two hundred hostages. It triggered an escalation of the conflict in the region, with more than 73,000 deaths and over 174,000 people injured, according to Hamas, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Jerry Seinfeld will perform at MEO Arena (source in Portuguese) on 1 November, with tickets priced between 60 and 250 euros and some sections already sold out.