Pro-Palestinian comedian Sundeep Bhardwaj was due to perform at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool, on Thursday 10 July 2025, but he was informed at short notice that the venue had cancelled the booking (a rental by him) because his show “does not comply with their equality, diversity and inclusion policies.” This cancellation followed approaches from a journalist at a notorious pro-Israel mouthpiece, Jewish News, both to the theatre and several of its funders, as well as a hostile email campaign. This news shocked the local and national artistic and pro-Palestinian community, not just because the cancellation had occurred, but that, of all venues, the historically radical Unity Theatre had uncharacteristically succumbed to external pressure. Since its creation in the 1930s, the Unity has been a beacon of free speech and creative radicalism, and in the recent period its determination to give platforms to marginalised communities, including Palestinians, has rightly earned it a fiercely loyal following.

During a Zoom meeting with the artistic director and one of the board members, some committed supporters of the Unity, representing a much larger group, expressed their concern and anger at the silencing of a fellow artist. As a consequence of that meeting it is now clear how the cancellation occurred. While key staff were away the theatre was bombarded with hundreds of emails (many of which we now understand were generated by bots) demanding to know why the theatre was programming a antisemitic performer. Threatening emails also went to funders and other stakeholders. Simultaneously, Jewish News amplified the false accusations of antisemitism against Mr. Bhardwaj.

The AD and board member acknowledged the cancellation was an error, taken in haste and under pressure, and undertook to issue a statement acknowledging this. The statement was posted on the Unity’s website on Monday, 7 July. unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/a-statement-from-unity...

Regrettably the statement issued did not fully address the concerns expressed about the cancellation. Below, we issue an open letter addressing the original act of censorship by Unity, and our concerns about their statement. We invite other artists and supporters, if they are in agreement, to join us in signing.

We, the undersigned, acknowledge the limited statement made by Unity Theatre on the cancellation of pro-Palestinian comedian Sundeep Bhardwaj’s performance of Ceasefire.

Sundeep’s comedy powerfully and uncompromisingly satirises the genocidal coloniser state of Israel. Jewish News sought to sabotage his current tour by contacting Unity and other venues with slanderous allegations, misrepresenting his work by using carefully selected, out-of-context quotations which falsely suggested that Sundeep is an antisemite.

For example, Sundeep’s satirical use of his invented pronoun, He/Hamas.

A viewing of Sundeep’s material makes clear that he uses this phrase satirically to mock the Zionist habit of calling anyone critical of Israel a Hamas supporter. Anyone and anything is Hamas, including children and babies. Thus the meaning is literally inverted – it is actually Zionists who call everyone, including Sundeep, Hamas, and Sundeep is ridiculing this indiscriminate use of that designation. According to the newspaper however, Sundeep is proudly declaring himself a Hamas supporter. Liverpool theatre cancels comedian who says his pronouns are He/Hamas! [The Jewish News 2.7.25] There are other examples of such politically motivated distortion and Sundeep has posted a response to them, as well as the He/Hamas distortion here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLcw6gwtZfk/

We acknowledge that the Unity, in making this decision to cancel, faced a very difficult situation and they have apologised for doing so. Unfortunately however, the Unity statement does not touch on the heart of the matter - this was a fraudulent political attack by supporters of Israel, based on dishonesty, in an attempt to silence an artist critical of Israel. In effect, Unity's statement, in being so vague, disguises and enables a flagrant attack on free speech.

Unity’s statement declares that it will review its policies and learn lessons from the incident. This would be useful, but we believe that the central problem is not the process but the decision itself: to censor an artist on the basis of lies. We also note that there is an expression of regret to the local artistic community, but not to the artist. We urge the Unity to make an unreserved apology to Sundeep Bhardwaj and issue him an invitation to return to the Unity sometime in the future.

“Perception of partiality” is a phrase recently used by the BBC to attempt to justify its cancelling of a documentary, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, about the targeting of doctors in Gaza. Such action by our state broadcaster is just one manifestation of the extent to which pro-Israel forces are influencing and silencing anti-Zionist voices – Kneecap, Bob Vylan and the proscription of Palestine Action are only the most obvious recent examples. In order to avoid a perception of partiality, we hope that Unity’s board will demonstrate clearly in future that it is supportive both of the oppressed Palestinians and those Jewish people in Israel and beyond, some in our own community, who also support them. To that end, we also urge the Unity to hold a discussion with creatives as a step towards re-establishing faith in what the Unity should continue to represent. We look forward to consulting with the Unity supportively to enable them to stand up to bullying and censorship in the future.