Newsroom
American comedian Jeff Arcuri set off both laughter and outrage after cracking jokes about Turkey’s occupation of Cyprus during a recent stand-up show.
While interacting with a Turkish man in the crowd, Arcuri joked, “I was in Istanbul. Right after that, I was in Cyprus, which you occupy. I didn’t know that.”
The audience member shouted back, “Half of it.” Arcuri doubled over laughing and mocked the response: “What a funny way to put it, only half! That’s like Al Qaeda saying, ‘But we didn’t touch the Empire State Building.’”
The bit didn’t stop there. Arcuri went on to tell the crowd that people in Cyprus had asked him if he had visited the occupied north. He admitted he wasn’t sure at the time, then mimicked the Muslim call to prayer and described looking around in confusion as “everyone stopped” at 6 p.m.
For his finale, he referenced Cyprus’ well-known anti-occupation slogan, telling the audience: “I just kept walking around (in the occupied area) saying: ‘Never forget!’” The crowd burst into laughter, with Arcuri pointing back at the Turkish spectator who had sparked the exchange.
But while the live audience applauded, not everyone was amused online. Several of Arcuri’s Turkish followers on Instagram expressed anger at the jokes, while others called it one of the riskiest routines of his career. The clip quickly went viral.
Watch the clip below:
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