Dane Baptiste Dropped By His Agencies As He Issues First Statement Since Making Death Threat To Fellow Comic

EXCLUSIVE: British comedian Dane Baptiste has been dropped by his agencies and “apologised profusely” via a statement after making an antisemitic death threat towards a female colleague, which has been reported to the Met Police.

Baptiste is no longer represented by Insanity Group and DLT Entertainment-owned Gag Reflex, both of which had repped him up until yesterday’s highly incendiary post. The Met Police has been “made aware” of the post, it said earlier today.

“Insanity became aware of a social media post published by Dane on Instagram yesterday,” said a spokesperson for the agency that reps Maya Jama and Mollie King. “The contents of his post are completely at odds with our values and what we stand for. We promptly made this clear to him, and are no longer working with him. As an organisation we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind and are committed to the values of respect and tolerance for all.”

A spokeswoman for Gag Reflex confirmed that the agency no longer reps Baptiste. Baptiste declined to comment on being dropped by his agencies.

The comedian’s now-deleted initial Insta post started, “A quick note to the Zionist comedian stalking my family’s page,” and went on to say he would “sit in prison while your family sit at the cemetery.”

Addressing the inflammatory post in the past hour, the 42-year-old comic, who has created two BBC shows and made numerous TV appearances, said he “apologises profusely” for a “massive error of judgement.”

“I made a point to say Zionist and not Jewish, but I appreciate how disturbing, threatening and incendiary that language is,” he wrote.

“In the recent past I have received a number of threatening and abusive messages from accounts accusing me of antisemitism for having pro-Palestinian views. I have a new family and my partner made me aware that some of these same people were monitoring her Instagram account. In a massive error of judgement, I posted an excessive and impulsive response, hoping to dissuade anybody monitoring my family.”

He added that he had “reacted poorly and emotionally to a perceived threat with no considered thought to the consequences.”

His initial post had said: “I want you to sit down with your husband and kids and imagine what their lives will be without you, b/c north london is a quick trip to make and a think tank will have to be an actual tank to keep you safe from me. Ask about and comedians will tell you I will be at your literal doorstep. Your agent won’t keep you safe.”

Baptiste has created two BBC shows, Sunny D and Bamous, and made numerous TV appearances. A BBC spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the broadcaster would work with him in the future but said it currently has nothing in development with Baptiste.

The Met Police earlier today said it had “been made aware” of Baptiste’s initial post and was “seeking further information” about “who the threats are directed towards.”