The Comedy Vault in Batavia canceled the shows of actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, an outspoken supporter of Israel during its war with Hamas, due to security concerns, club officials said.
The Comedy Vault said in a Facebook post on May 31 that it canceled the shows, which were set to take place on Thursday through Saturday, because it said it was receiving violent threats against its staff members and Rapaport.
The post says “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.”
In its own post on Instagram, which was made last Sunday, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network said it organized with other activist groups to get the show canceled because Rapaport is outspoken in his support of Israel during what the group called a genocide in Gaza. But it said it made no threats to the club.
The Batavia Police Department was notified of “concerning messages” to The Comedy Vault and had a meeting with the business in early May to discuss them, according to Police Chief Shawn Mazza. He said in an email on Thursday that the investigation is now closed.
According to a police report about the early May meeting, the responding officer confirmed that the business had not received any threats of physical harm or damage to property up to that point. The officer also determined that the business had not received messages to that point that would be considered at a level of a chargeable offense.
The Comedy Vault did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
While the police report said there had been no threats of violence, the officer did say that the business had been threatened with protests if the shows were not canceled.
Mazza said that the Batavia Police Department would have been “prepared to meet the public safety needs of the community” if the shows had taken place.
Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, confirmed in a phone call on Tuesday that peaceful protests were planned to be held if the shows were not canceled. Primarily, the protests would have consisted of picket lines, chanting and examples of what he called Rapaport’s “racist rants,” he said.
“We would have also tried to talk to people going in. We would have passed out leaflets with a description of the kind of language that he uses,” Abudayyeh said.
He said the point would have been to “try to convince folks that are going in there why they shouldn’t go in and why we’re protesting him.”
Rapaport’s comedy shows have faced similar challenges throughout the country. In early May, his shows were canceled in Madison, Wisconsin, amid pro-Palestinian protests in the area. In January, activists and comedians in Portland, Oregon, spoke out against his shows for his pro-Israel views.
Rapaport did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but in an episode of the “I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST” released on Tuesday, he said the cancellation in Batavia made him disappointed and embarrassed, but not because he couldn’t do the show.
“If they can cancel my shows, people that are hesitant or concerned about having something taken away from them, it will silence them, and that’s the thing that bothered me,” Rapaport said. “I don’t want anyone to feel hesitant. I don’t want anyone to feel scared. I don’t want anyone to feel reluctant.”
A few minutes later in the podcast, Rapaport said it was specifically Jewish people, those who support Jewish people and those who support Israel that he did not want to doubt themselves. Rapaport is also Jewish.
Abudayyeh said that his group did not organize against Rapaport because he is Jewish, but instead because he supports Israel during what he called a genocide in Gaza. The U.S. Palestinian Community Network has organized against other public figures who support Israel during its war with Hamas.
Earlier this year, the group organized against Jewish Reggae artist Matisyahu’s show at the House of Blues in Chicago. That show was also canceled.
The shows’ cancellations have come among other protests, both by activist groups like the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and by groups of college students throughout the country, against Israel’s military actions in Gaza amid its most recent war with Hamas. Protests have called for ceasefires and U.S. divestment from Israel, among other things.
Israel has also drawn criticism from the International Criminal Court and the nation of South Africa, among other nations, for alleged war crimes against the Palestinian people during its war with Hamas, according to reports.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed sanctions against the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. The International Criminal Court also issued arrest warrants for top Hamas leaders.
The Anti-Defamation League has also condemned the International Criminal Court and South Africa for its recent calls to end the conflict. The organization says on its website that efforts to delegitimize Israel or Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination and statehood, are antisemitic.
Abudayyeh said the Anti-Defamation League and others are trying to “weaponize antisemitism” to silence those who criticize Israel or call for a ceasefire in the current conflict. The U.S. Palestinian Community Network is against antisemitism, he said, just as it is against other forms of racism.
In his podcast, Rapaport said he is coming back to Chicago to do a show at The Vic theater. Currently, no information is available online about the show.
“There’s no canceling me. There’s no canceling Israel. There’s no canceling the Jews. There’s no canceling the Zionists. We are not going anywhere,” he said in the podcast.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com