Reginald D Hunter: Summons against comic by Campaign Against Antisemitism quashed for seeking to have him ‘cancelled’ | UK News

A judge has quashed a summons against comedian Reginald D Hunter, brought privately by Campaign Against Antisemitism, ruling it “abusive” and intended to get the comedian “cancelled”.

The 56-year-old US comic had been accused of three counts of sending an offensive communication on three different occasions – 24 August, 10 September and 11 September last year – to Heidi Bachram on X.

The summons was quashed at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday by District Judge Michael Snow following an application by the defence.

Judge Snow ruled that the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) charity’s motive in seeking to prosecute Hunter was “to have him cancelled” and that the prosecution was “abusive”.

Bought as a private prosecution, rather than by the state, the judge said the charity was seeking to use the criminal justice system “for improper reasons”.

The CAA describes itself as a volunteer-led charity, “dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law”.

In his ruling, Judge Snow said: “The CAA have demonstrated by the misleading and partial way in which it summarised its application and its wilful, repeated, failure to meet its disclosure obligations, that its true and sole motive in seeking to prosecute Reginald Hunter is to have him cancelled.

“I have no doubt that the prosecution is abusive.

“My view of the conduct of the CAA is consistent with them as an organisation which is not ‘playing it straight’ but is seeking to use the criminal justice system, in this case for improper reasons.”

Judge Snow said the summary of Ms Bachram’s tweeting in the application case summary was “wholly inadequate”.

He added: “It did not reveal the extent of her tweets directed against Reginald Hunter in the period immediately preceding the complaints (her tweets were sent between 15 August and 11 September 2024).

“The summary misled me into believing that his comments were addressed to her involvement with the Jewish faith as opposed to his response to attempts that were being made to have him ‘cancelled’.”

The judge said the CAA had failed to inform him of a compliance investigation by the Charity Commission into the CAA in November 2024.

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