Call it “cancel culture,” call it the “heckler’s veto,” but the troubling phenomenon of threats of violence succeeding in silencing speech has arrived in the Fox Valley.
This phenomenon, which has manifested itself on college campuses and entertainment venues across the country at an increasing rate in recent years, landed with both feet when the owners of Batavia’s Comedy Vault, Liz Valaitis and Michael Knuth, cancelled this weekend’s performances of comedian Michael Rapaport after receiving threatening phone calls from anti-Israel groups.
Rappaport, who was scheduled for 5 shows this weekend at the popular comedy venue, has been a vocal supporter of Israel in its war against the terrorist Hamas organization in Gaza, a war sparked by Hamas’ murderous attack on Israeli citizens on October 7 that left over 1,000 Israeli civilians dead and another 250 taken hostage.
While Valaitis and Knuth have resisted media requests for comment, the venue issued a statement on Facebook explaining the cancellation.
“Given the escalating violent threats towards our staff and performer, including recent death threats, we have decided that we cannot, in good conscience, proceed with a show that poses such a significant safety risk to our staff, audience members, and the community as a whole.”
According to media reports, Rappaport has also had shows in Wisconsin cancelled.
“The idea that clubs could be bullied, clubs could be threatened, Jewish people, people that believe in the right for Israel to exist, or anybody should be bullied, threatened, canceled, boycotted or any of this (expletive) is so against anything that I believe in, anything that this country is about,” Rapaport said in a podcast after his Wisconsin shows were canceled, according to a Daily Herald report.
According to reports, Batavia police had scheduled an additional presence in preparation for the shows, but were informed of the cancellations by the venue just recently.
