Antisemitic performers have begun pulling out of a Portuguese comedy festival because Jerry Seinfeld will be headlining it.
The Lisbon International Humor Festival, scheduled for late October, announced this week that Seinfeld, a legendary Jewish comedian, will be headlining the show.
Like most Jews, Seinfeld is fond of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world. For this, he’s faced deep backlash from antisemites who resent Israel’s justified actions in Gaza — actions that they say amount to “genocide.”
“A festival includes many artists, and in this case, one of the names insistently defends ideas and actions that I consider indefensible,” one performer who pulled out, actress Inês Aires Pereira, wrote on Instagram, according to The Times of Israel. “We cannot relativize or normalize genocide.”
While she didn’t name Seinfeld, it was clear she was referring to him.
The comedic duo Cebola Mol also took to Instagram to announce their decision to pull out of the show.
“Hello, friends. Our show on October 31 will not take place,” they wrote. “We will celebrate justice, freedom, and joy at a future opportunity.”
Leftist groups that hate Israel were excited by the pull-outs:
Several performers pulled out of lisbon international film festival in protest of headliner Jerry Seinfeld supporting the genocide in Palestine
Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t exist. pic.twitter.com/jECmvmlYqj
— LPC (@landpalestine) September 7, 2026
But according to Tim Young of the Heritage Foundation, there’s just one problem: Seinfeld can’t be cancelled.
Speaking with Fox News, Young further argued that the performers who quit the show are only hurting themselves.
“I think anybody who is a comedian, anybody who is a performer, would want to work with basically the most successful, if not one of the most successful comedians in world history at this point,” Young said.
“The guy’s a billionaire from his comedy and his writing, and I don’t know why you would want to walk away from it,” he continued.
Young added that the performers pulling out are just catering to the choir.
They’re “a group of woke people performing for woke people,” he argued. “They know who their audience is. They’re behaving the way that their audience would behave and just playing into it.”
Either way, Young is confident the pull-outs will have zero effect on Seinfeld.
“You can’t cancel somebody like him,” Young stressed. “Comedy is uncancellable. You get to a certain level, you’re not going to be affected by it, and it’s important that people like Seinfeld … come out and say, ‘Hey, you know, this is bad, the things that are happening.'”
“Adults can’t be adults anymore,” Young concluded. “Everybody has to whine and cry. They will sacrifice their own success for a stupid stance.”
Seinfeld has a history of angering antisemites with his blunt assessments of their chicanery and bull.
“Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld told Duke University’s student newspaper last year when asked about people who try to get him to say “free Palestine.”
“Just say you don’t like Jews,” he continued. “By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.”
Seinfeld famously dismissed a leftist last year when said leftist told him, “free Palestine”:
Jerry Seinfeld is headlining the Lisbon International Humour Festival. A handful of Portuguese comedians (nobody’s ever heard of) just dropped out to protest Seinfeld, and his support of Israel.
This is probably their best joke ever – because nobody really cares about these… https://t.co/ePpkB8BQkA pic.twitter.com/7tKlAXcj3N
— Am Yisrael Chai 🐙 (@AmYisraelChai_X) September 8, 2026
Seinfeld has also on a previous occasion said that so-called “Palestine doesn’t exist.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group linked to Islamic terrorism, didn’t appreciate his remarks.
“Palestinians are not a punchline and their existence is not up for debate,” the group said in a statement. “Palestine exists. Palestinian children exist. Palestinian families exist. Palestinian history, culture, land, identity and rights exist. To deny the existence of Palestine is not comedy, commentary or political opinion. It is dehumanization.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
- Brutal park bench slaying: Repeat offender butchers beloved Texas man linked to Fox News stars - September 12, 2026
- NYC firefighter rips 9/11 agitator: ‘Go back to f**king Palestine… and take Mamdani, AOC and Hochul too!’ - September 12, 2026
- Performers pull out of comedy festival over Jerry Seinfeld headliner - September 11, 2026
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.