A comedian has apologised after his Edinburgh Fringe show ‘hounded out’ and mocked two Israeli audience members.

Reginald D Hunter, who is from Albany, Georgia, but has lived in the UK since 1997, has insisted that he is ‘staunchly anti-war and anti-bully’ after the backlash he has received following the incident. 

The 55-year-old had been performing his standup show ‘Fluffy Fluffy Beavers’ at the comedy festival, when he made a quip about how when watching a recent Channel 5 documentary about domestic abuse had made him think of Israel.

When two Israeli audience members had objected to the distasteful joke, they were reportedly sworn at, called ‘genocidal’ and told ‘you’re not welcome’ by fellow spectators shouting ‘Free Palestine‘.

Now Hunter has taken to X to apologise for his part in the incident, claiming it is part of his job as a comedian to ‘push boundaries’. 

Reginald D Hunter has insisted that he is ‘staunchly anti-war and anti-bully’ following the backlash he has received online

Hunter has taken to X to apologise for his behaviour

He wrote: ‘There was an unfortunate incident in my new show ‘Fluffy Fluffy Beavers’.

‘As a comedian I do push boundaries in creating humour, it is part of my job. This inevitably creates divided opinions but I am staunchly anti-war and anti-bullying.

‘I regret any stress caused to the audience and venue staff members.’

The US-born entertainer was half-way through the packed gig at the Edinburgh Festival on Sunday night – described by one theatre critic as the ‘ugliest Edinburgh Fringe moment ever’ – when the commotion began.

As a woman told her story of how she was ill-treated by her husband, the comedian revealed that he thought to himself: ‘My God, it’s like being married to Israel.’

While the joke evoked laughter from the audience, a couple on the front row were prompted to shout out ‘not funny’, before revealing they were Israeli.

Dominic Cavendish, chief theatre critic for The Telegraph, was in the audience when the furore erupted.

Writing a review of the show, which he awarded one star to, Cavendish said: ‘The pair, who said they were from Israel, then endured their fellow audience members shouting expletives (‘f— off’ among them), and telling them to go – with slow-hand claps, boos and cries of ‘genocidal maniac’, ‘you’re not welcome’ and ‘free Palestine’ part of the toxic mix.’

Rather than pulling the audience up for their animosity towards the unwitting hecklers, Hunter apparently instead said to them: ‘You can say it’s not funny to you, but if you say it to a room full of people who laughed, you look foolish.’

The couple, one of whom was disabled, are then said to have exited from the show as Hunter apparently ‘openly laughed’ at them and as fellow audience members continued to jeer.

Not done with the pair, even as they left, Hunter then related a story about how his partner had complained about not being able to access the Jewish Chronicle’s website, as it is behind a paywall.

He is reported as saying: ”Typical f—ing Jews, they won’t tell you anything unless you subscribe.’ ‘It’s just a joke,’ he added.