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Lisbon Comics Boycott Jerry Seinfeld — But the Audience Gets the Final Word

A dozen Portuguese artists are pulling out of a comedy festival because headliner Jerry Seinfeld supports Israel. The organizers won't budge, the MEO Arena is selling tickets for up to 250 euros — and this affair reveals something new: the anti-Israel cultural boycott is starting to cost those who practice it more than those it targets.

·Source: i24NEWS

The first edition of the Lisbon International Humour Festival — Commedia a La Carte Fest — was supposed to be a celebration. It has become a litmus test. In the run-up to the event, scheduled for October 29 to November 1, several Portuguese artists announced their withdrawal: actress Inês Aires Pereira, who cancelled her show "Namastê" while denouncing, without naming him, "one of the names" who "insistently defends ideas and actions" she considers "indefensible"; the duo Cebola Mol, who accompanied their announcement with a watermelon image, symbol of the Palestinian cause; then the "Tributo Pop" concert, the band Conjunto Cuca Monga, comedian Pedro Tochas and artist Vhils.

The target of this cascade of defections: Jerry Seinfeld, the festival's headliner. His crime? Since the October 7, 2023 massacre, the American comedian has publicly stood by Israel. Two months after the attack, he traveled there to meet families of hostages. He has voiced support for the IDF, and recently compared the "Free Palestine" movement to the Ku Klux Klan, arguing that its activists were concealing their hostility toward Jews.

Look closely at what the departing artists actually hold against Seinfeld: meeting hostage families and refusing to let hatred of Jews be dressed up as a progressive cause. That is what has become "indefensible" in part of Europe's cultural world. Note, too, that most of the withdrawing artists didn't even publicly state their reasons: the boycott now operates by mimicry, not by argued conviction. You pull out because the others pull out, because staying would carry too high a social cost.

Except this affair may mark a turning point — and not the one the boycotters imagine. The organizers did not cave: Seinfeld remains the headliner, his show is confirmed for November 1 at the MEO Arena, Portugal's largest venue, with tickets selling for between 60 and 250 euros. In other words, between a handful of local comedians and the global star who fills arenas, the market has spoken. The pattern had already played out at Duke in May 2024, when students walked out of his commencement address, and in Sydney, when activists disrupted his show: each time, Seinfeld stayed — and so did the audience.

That's the lesson the mainstream press isn't drawing: the anti-Israel cultural boycott only works against the weak. Against an established, beloved, economically indispensable artist, it backfires into free publicity — and exposes those who practice it. The slots vacated by the departing acts will be filled; the 20,000 spectators of the MEO Arena, on the other hand, cannot be replaced.

That's the lesson the mainstream press isn't drawing: the anti-Israel cultural boycott only works against the weak.

What if, in the end, this were the real service rendered by Lisbon's boycotters: proving that solidarity with Israel is no longer a fringe position that can be silenced by social pressure, but a choice the biggest names in culture openly embrace — and that audiences follow? Every artist who slams the door to punish a Jew for standing with his people is a reminder of one thing: fear has started to change sides, and it won't come back at the sight of a watermelon emoji.

#Seinfeld#Israel#JewishNews#Lisbon#StandWithIsrael#Antisemitism#Comedy#Midbar

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Lisbon Comics Boycott Jerry Seinfeld — But the Audience Gets the Final Word | Midbar