Performers at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024. Photo: Andrew Wilson/EEm/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

A Scottish venue has admitted that it discriminated against Jewish stand-up comedian Philip Simon when it canceled his show in last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland because of his pro-Israel views.

In a hearing at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, Simon’s lawyer David Welsh said the Banshee Labyrinth pub conceded it had acted unlawfully in breach of the Equality Act 2010 when it decided to call off Simon’s solo show in the 2025 edition of the major arts and culture festival in the city of Edinburgh. His show, titled “Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way?” was not about Israel or politics.

The venue said last year it canceled the show because Simon’s pro-Israel views about the Israel-Hamas war “align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations.” Simon believes he was canceled “just for being Jewish.” The comedian took legal action against Morrison Bros Ltd, the owner of Banshee Labyrinth, claiming it had discriminated against him on the grounds of “unlawful belief-based discrimination.”

Judge Sheriff Roderick Flinn told the court the venue acted “unreasonably” in waiting until Aug. 5 to admit it had discriminated against Simon, the BBC reported. The judge said the amount in damages awarded to Simon will be determined at a later date.

Welsh criticized Banshee Labyrinth, saying the venue “dragged out proceedings” even though it knew its defense was “untenable.” He told the court the drawn-out ordeal resulted in Simon facing “avoidable expenses at every stage.”

“There was never a need for the action to reach the court in the first place, if the defender had behaved reasonably,” he added, as cited by the BBC.

In a statement shared on social media, Simon welcomed the venue’s admission of discrimination and said, “This draws a line under part of a stressful ordeal that I’ve endured for over a year now.”

“It is a shame that Banshee Labyrinth decided to let this run all the way to just before the court hearing, rather than accepting any of our previous settlement offers that included an apology, antisemitism training, and making a contribution to an antisemitism charity,” added the comedian. “For them to have defended the case for months, only to admit they discriminated at the very last minute, has made the whole situation even more upsetting.”

Simon said the case had “never been about money” but was about “fighting against the idea that a performer can be canceled because of their religion.”

“It is about speaking up about how it is deemed acceptable to treat Jewish comedians and artists in a way that wouldn’t be tolerated if it was any other race or religion,” he noted.