Disgraced comedian Dane Baptiste has apologised to the “Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans” after being reported to police over a now-deleted alleged antisemitic death threat to a female comic.
In the tweet, he told the unnamed woman that he would "sit in prison while your family sit at the cemetery". He then went on to say she should not be a "dumb woman" for her "own safety". His agent Gag Reflex, who had only signed Baptiste in January, have dropped the performer and say they "do not tolerate hate speech of any kind" before removing any references and links between themselves and the star..
It came hours after Baptiste issued a public threat after accusing her of "stalking" his family's social media accounts. The stand-up has appeared on shows including Live At The Apollo, Richard Osman’s House Of Games, Mock The Week and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and also fronted the BBC Three sketch programme Bamous.
He said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that he made an “massive error of judgment” following “a number of threatening and abusive messages from accounts accusing me of antisemitism for having pro-Palestinian views”.
He issued a sickening public death threat to an female Jewish comedianHe said: “I have a new family and my partner made me aware that some of these same people were monitoring her Instagram account. “In a massive error of judgment, I posted an excessive and impulsive response, hoping to dissuade anybody monitoring my family. I made a point to say Zionist and not Jewish, but I appreciate how disturbing, threatening and incendiary that language is, I would categorically state I have no ill intention towards the Jewish community and never have.
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“I have a loving family of which I am massively protective of; I reacted poorly and emotionally to a perceived threat with no considered thought to the consequences, and I apologise profusely for my actions to the Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans.”
Fellow comedians David Baddiel and Marcus Brigstocke had both criticised an Instagram story, in which Baptiste appeared to hit out at an unnamed woman for looking at his family’s social media page. Brigstocke wrote on X that Baptiste’s comment “wasn’t vague and cannot be justified” and he refuses to “stay silent while only Jewish friends speak up”.
Baddiel, who wrote a book and fronted a Channel 4 documentary called Jews Don’t Count, took issue with a word being used, saying that Zionist “sometimes that word implies a distinct belief system” and is a “more acceptable way” of referring to Jewish people. Baptiste was the first black comedian to be nominated for the award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2014.
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