Nizar Akremi's show cancelled after Luke Mockridge scandal

Nizar Akremi, presenter of the podcast “Die Deutschen”, also loses an appearance in Hamburg. But the pressure on the comedian continues to grow.

After making tasteless jokes about people with disabilities, comedian and podcaster Nizar Akremi is facing massive public criticism. Together with Luke Mockridge and Shayan Garcia, Akremi made fun of participants in the Paralympic Games in Paris in an episode of the podcast “Die Deutschen”.

Akremi is now feeling the consequences in particular: his show planned for January 10th in Hamburg's Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Harburg has been cancelled, as have more than half of his other appearances. This is evident from an overview on the comedian's website. According to this, a total of 26 of the 53 dates of the “On Fire” tour have been cancelled.

In addition to the outrage over the anti-disabled statements, Akremi is also facing accusations of anti-Semitism. Stefan Hensel, the anti-Semitism commissioner for the city of Hamburg, is therefore calling for the planned live podcast “Nizar & Shayan – The Germans” on November 22nd in the Barclays Arena to be cancelled.

Hensel criticized Akremi for spreading anti-Semitic hate speech on the X platform in the form of demonization and propaganda against Jews and Jews as well as the State of Israel. This is not covered by artistic freedom. The Hanseatic city's anti-Semitism commissioner emphasized: “This finds its limits where hate speech against minorities is openly evident.”

Hensel also criticized the Barclays Arena, which is sticking with the event despite the previous allegations. “The Barclays Arena uses our city's infrastructure and has a responsibility,” Hensel emphasized to the NDR “Kulturjournal”. City-funded venues should not provide a platform for these people. “Other cities have rightly already canceled events, and we should do the same,” said Hensel.

Akremi had already attracted attention in 2022 with his anti-Semitic stories about Jews with hooked noses caught as gold coins. At that time, several organizers had ended their cooperation with him. It remains to be seen whether the planned show in the Barclays Arena will take place. A spokesman explained in a statement in the “Hamburger Abendblatt” that she was merely acting as a landlord and was adhering to her contractual obligations. Read more about it here.