Jeff Singer, Just for Laughs’ New Faces Booker, Resigns

Image: Within Jokes/Amazon

Jeff Singer, the influential talent booker at the rear of Just for Laughs’ New Faces showcase, resigned from the Montreal-based mostly comedy festival this weekend immediately after an incident in which he regularly utilised the N-word in entrance of auditioning comics. On June 4, comic Mehran Khaghani posted to social media about Singer just lately using the N-term at a club exhibit. “He claimed he was just repeating, verbatim, the language of a poc he was speaking to,” Khaghani said in the post on equally Facebook and Twitter. “People experimented with to prevent and educate him and he just doubled and tripled down.” Khaghani also alleged that at a JFL audition yrs previously, Singer dismissed his comedy, telling him, “I’ve witnessed homosexual just before.” The comedian continued, “This man has, for the entire span of my possess occupation in comedy, gate kept a big showcase for expertise in my industry. He doesn’t see gays or gals or POCs or any mixture thereof in a progressive or even-handed way.”

Following Khaghani’s write-up, other comedians commenced to chime in about their own experiences with Singer about the yrs, and comedian Jen Kirkman tweeted a thread of nameless statements of sexism towards the booker. “He’s been at it for many years & accusations of his sexism/homophobia/racism are quite a few,” she wrote.

As initial reported by the Comic’s Comic, Singer took to Fb on June 6 to apologize for the incident in which he regularly applied a racial slur, and to announce that he has resigned from Just for Laughs. “I was at a comedy club acquiring a discussion with some people and I built a enormous error in judgment,” he wrote. “I questioned a issue and repeated back a phrase that a person mentioned and it was fully incorrect to do that. There was no malice when I said it. Even so it was 100% mistaken and I need to have known improved quickly.”

“Clearly it was insensitive and I deeply regret it,” he ongoing. “To that close, I submitted my resignation to Just For Laughs over the weekend. I have realized from this encounter and will make certain it in no way occurs once more. I sincerely apologized privately to the types right impacted. I apologize to any individual else I offended that evening from my thoughtless words and phrases. I am imperfect and will get absent almost everything I can from this to do superior.” Singer did not deal with the allegations of sexism and homophobia in his statement.

Just for Laughs has not released a assertion on Singer’s resignation.

Update, June 7, 10:43 a.m.: Just for Laughs has unveiled a statement confirming Singer’s resignation. “We admit those people who arrived ahead this earlier weekend and shared their experiences. JFL has a determination to listen and provide a safe and respectful workplace,” the statement reads. “To that conclude, Just for Laughs has a strict code of conduct plan. We do not tolerate abusive, inappropriate or vexatious behaviors. Anybody working with Just for Laughs will have to deal with fellow artists, field, staff members and audiences with equality, respect and dignity.”