Stand-up comedian Reginald D Hunter has revealed that he’s estranged from his family, two years on from making a controversial joke about Israel that led to him being sued.
The American comic, 57, made headlines in 2024 after clashing with an Israeli couple at an Edinburgh Fringe gig over a joke he made comparing the country of Israel to an abusive partner.
He was ultimately taken to court by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, who brought private prosecution against Hunter, alleging three counts of sending an offensive communications. A judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court quashed the summons, ruling that the CAA had intended to get the comedian “cancelled”.
Speaking at a recent gig, Hunter revealed the impact that his controversial joke had on his personal life. He told a crowd at a club in Walthamstow, east London: “I have moments when I think to myself, ‘I messed up real bad by making that joke,’ because it’s affected all the people who depended on me.
“I’m estranged from my family. My daughter hasn’t spoken to me for two years, and I have all kinds of tax problems,” he said. “But then I think, at least I don’t f*** kids.”
Hunter, who also said that he had been stuck in “comedy jail” for the past two years, only met his daughter for the first time in 2016, having not been aware of her existence until she was 15.
In August 2024, Hunter – who appeared on Have I Got News For You, Richard Osman’s House of Games and QI before the joke – faced widespread backlash after making the joke at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Referencing a documentary which contained a scene about an abusive wife who accused her husband of abuse, he said: “My God, it’s like being married to Israel.”
A couple from Israel then reportedly shouted “not funny”, at which point several members of the audience heckled them, yelling “you’re not welcome” and “genocidal maniac” at the pair before they left.
Hunter allegedly told the couple: “You can say it’s not funny to you, but if you say it to a room full of people who laughed.”
After calling the comments “extremely concerning”, the CAA pursued private prosecution of Hunter over social media posts they alleged were antisemitic. He was accused of sending an offensive communication on three occasions – on August 24, September 10 and September 11 in 2024 – to Heidi Bachram on X.
Last year, a judge quashed the allegations, ruling that the CAA was seeking to use the criminal justice system for “improper reasons” in the case.
“The CAA have demonstrated by the misleading and partial way in which it summarised its application and its wilful, repeated, failure to meet its disclosure obligations, that its true and sole motive in seeking to prosecute Reginald Hunter is to have him cancelled,” Judge Snow said. “I have no doubt that the prosecution is abusive.
“My view of the conduct of the CAA is consistent with them as an organisation which is not ‘playing it straight’ but is seeking to use the criminal justice system, in this case for improper reasons,” adding that the CAA did not reveal the extent of Bachram’s tweets directed at Hunter.
“The summary misled me into believing that his comments were addressed to her involvement with the Jewish faith as opposed to his response to attempts that were being made to have him ‘cancelled’.”
The comedian is set to return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.
