Шоу комика Бассема Юсефа в Австралии отменены из-за проблем с визой

Comedian Bassem Youssef postpones Australian tour after authorities ask him to provide background checks The Egyptian-American comedian Bassem Youssef has announced his imminent Australian tour has been postponed after he was asked to provide background checks as part of his visa application. Ticketholders for Youssef’s first Australian show, scheduled for Perth on Thursday, received alerts on Tuesday afternoon that the show had been “rescheduled due to circumstances beyond their control” and that new dates would be announced. He had also been scheduled to perform in Sydney and Melbourne. The comedian has recently attracted criticism from Australian Jewish groups for jokes and commentary about Israel and Palestine, including social media statements calling Israelis “genocidal, brutal, merciless … pieces of shit”. The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim told the Sydney Morning Herald in June the council had made representations to the department of home affairs to deny Youssef a visa. “Nobody from overseas who has a record of making debased generalisations about entire national or religious communities should be granted a visa to Australia,” Wertheim said in June. In a video statement on Wednesday, Youssef said: “My shows in Australia and New Zealand have been postponed, rescheduled. Of course I owe you an explanation – it seems there are new conditions and procedures for Australian visa applications if you want to work there, perform there. We tried as much as possible to fulfil these requirements.” Youssef claimed he was asked by Australian authorities to provide a background check from the FBI in the US, as well as his criminal record in Egypt. Australian authorities may request such information as part of considering visa applications, but Youssef said he had not been asked to provide either when he previously visited. Youssef, a former heart surgeon turned TV host and comedian, has visited Australia without incident before: when he last toured his standup in 2023 and in 2015, when he gave a keynote speech about freedom of expression, satire and his experiences during the Arab spring. Youssef was forced to flee Egypt after his satirical TV show was taken off the air when he mocked the country’s Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, and Egypt’s military. He has lived in the US since 2014 and is now a US citizen. “It was a bit strange for me to have to provide a criminal record from Egypt, a country that I left 12 years ago – but I respect Australian law. I respect the immigration laws,” he said. Youssef said that because his Egyptian passport and national ID had expired, his request to Egyptian authorities “took much longer to process, and we could not fulfil these requirements”. “I cannot get on a plane to Australia unless I have the work permit because you have to respect the law of the country that you go to. So I truly apologise. I want to thank everybody involved. But we are hopeful that when my criminal record arrives – hopefully I haven’t done anything in the 12 years when I left Egypt … we are going to apply. I am very looking forward to being with you. I apologise once again.” New dates will be announced, with ticketholders able to apply for refunds. The department of home affairs declined to comment.