Comedian Dane Baptiste dropped by talent agency as he apologises to Jewish community for 'disturbing' post
2 May 2024, 20:37
Comedian Dane Baptiste has apologised after posting a furious tirade on Instagram in which he appeared to make a death threat towards a Jewish comedian.
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The stand up comic, who has appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live At The Apollo, and Mock The Week, was also dropped by his talent agency, Insanity.
The post has been deleted, and the company said they were "completely at odds with our values and what we stand for".
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In the post he made allusions to the comedian's family visiting a cemetery while Baptiste is in prison.
Baptiste said: "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.
"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."
His talent agency Insanity said they "became aware of a social media post published by Dane on Instagram yesterday."
They added: "The contents of his post are completely at odds with our values and what we stand for. We promptly made this clear to him, and are no longer working with him.
"As an organisation we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind and are committed to the values of respect and tolerance for all."
Baptiste was the first black comic to be nominated for the award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2014.
