St. Catharines anti-racism committee says ventriloquist’s show no laughing matter

St Catharines Standard, Saturday, August 27 2022

Booking comedian Jeff Dunham for an upcoming show at the St. Catharines-owned Meridian Centre has the city’s anti-racism advisory committee saying, Seriously?

The committee is asking city councillors to request the Meridian Centre cancel the American ventriloquist’s Nov. 20 show — something councillors will be discussing on Monday.

At issue are characters used in Dunham’s act and scheduled to be part of the North American “Jeff Dunham: Seriously?” tour that include a bearded skeleton puppet called Achmed the dead terrorist and a Latino puppet named “Jose Jalepeno.”

A Black puppet, Sweet Daddy Dee who’s a pimp, appears in Dunham’s older online videos but has reportedly been retired from the act.

A resolution from the committee, supported by the city’s social sustainability committee, says the characters are based on racist stereotypes and have no place in a city-owned facility.

“If the city is saying we’re a compassionate city, we take a stand against racism, there’s no room for racism or homophobia or misogyny here, then how can we have a performance that violates those policies on city property?” asked Saleh Waziruddin, chair of the city’s anti-racism advisory committee in an interview.

Waziruddin said holding the show would violate the city’s own Rzone policy — a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour and violence, including racism and hate speech, aimed at ensuring city spaces are inclusive for everyone.

“You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “You can’t say you’re a compassionate city against racism and then you do nothing when such a performance comes to town.”

The sustainability committee, to which the anti-racism committee reports, is requesting city council ask Meridian Centre management ASM Global to consider cancelling the Dunham performance.

It’s also asking the city to create guiding principles for future performances at all city facilities with input from equity seeking groups or advisory committees or both.

Merritton Coun. Greg Miller, a council representative on the social sustainability committee who’s making the motion, said he doesn’t want council getting involved in booking acts, but said there may be a blind spot in current city policies.

“As the motion for the anti-racism committee points out, it’s a little hypocritical to have a zero-tolerance policy for fans at kids’ hockey games and then be paying performers with what I would call intolerant acts monies to come and perform in the city.”

Dunham is one of the most famous comedians in the world and his Nov. 20 show is almost sold out at the 5,200 seat Meridian Centre. He performed to a sold out show at the centre previously in 2018.

Kay Meilleur, the centre’s director of marketing, said in an email the Meridian Centre presents a wide variety of music, comedy and other entertainment for a demographic that makes up a diverse community. She said the views expressed by all of the acts are not necessarily shared by the venue or the staff.

“ASM Global and the Meridian Centre remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all fans and employees who choose to attend an event, while supporting those groups who choose not to attend due to content that might be viewed by some as offensive.”

Representatives for Jeff Dunham did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

In an interview with The Guardian in 2018, Dunham said some of the material he’s performed in the past makes him “cringe” a bit, but added “You don’t want to lose your edge either, that’s another fine line.”

He told the UK paper whatever he’s doing to offend three or four per cent of the people is what the other 96 per cent are “laughing at the hardest.”