Vauxhall Tea House Theatre brushes up with antisemites again

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A tearoom known for hosting controversial speakers has dropped a talk by a blogger who suggested the Holocaust was a “bunch of lies” after the decision to host her was slammed by councillors.

Convicted antisemite Alison Chabloz was due to talk at an event on cancel culture by ‘Keep Talking’ at the Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall on Thursday.

The South London Press previously reported on the Tea House hosting a known antisemite.

Ms Chabloz has previously compared Auschwitz to a “theme park” and called the Holocaust an “eternal cash cow.”

Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust – two thirds of all Jews in Europe.

But Ms Chabloz will no longer speak at the event ‘Keep on Talking’ alongside alleged conspiracy theorist Ian Fantom after Tea House Theatre owner Harry Iggulden uninvited her.

Mr Iggulden said Ms Chabloz was invited by the group holding the event, not the Tea House Theatre.

He added that he was unaware of Ms Chabloz’s history of antisemitic comments until he read criticism of the team room’s decision to host her.

Mr Iggulden said: “We cancelled her. We won’t go backwards on that one. We’re also now reviewing whether the whole group can come.

“What we did was allow a certain group in called ‘Keep Talking’. They were doing an event about cancel culture and about the Malicious Communications Act. They got Alison Chabloz in to do a talk about it.

“As far as I’m aware it was to do with the fact she’d been jailed for malicious communications.

“Why did she get jailed and what was the actual thing behind it I didn’t know at the time, and it was highly antisemitic. It was appalling and I was outraged by it frankly.”

Mr Iggulden added that as of December 5, the talk on Thursday would still go ahead with just Ian Fantom speaking.

In a joint statement posted on Twitter on December 4, Vauxhall councillors Isla Wrathmell, Martin Bailey, and Liam Jarnecki said: “Shameful that @theatre_tea here in Vauxhall would welcome someone with such abhorrent views.

“The right to free speech is not a right to platform, and/ we hope they will reconsider this event. Antisemitism has no place in Vauxhall.”

Vauxhall MP Florence Eshalomi described the decision to welcome Ms Chabloz as “worrying.”

Writing on Twitter on December 4, she said: “This is worrying – Vauxhall is a vibrant, diverse constituency. I hope the venue in question will reconsider- free speech should not be a platform for people to share any form of hate, racism, discrimination or antisemitism.”

Alison Chabloz has a string of previous convictions for antisemitic behaviour. In April, she was jailed for 22 weeks after mocking the Jewish faith in an Oliver Twist song with altered lyrics.

A year earlier in April 2021, she was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison after saying Hitler wanted the Jews out of Europe for behaving “in a certain fashion as we’re seeing again today” on a radio show.

She also claimed that gas chambers were not “homicidal,” but in fact used “to save lives from typhus epidemics”.

In 2018, Ms Chabloz was given a two-year suspended sentence and banned from social media for 12 months for broadcasting antisemitic songs.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are pleased that convicted Holocaust-denier Alison Chabloz will no longer be appearing at this venue.

“We have worked for a number of years to repeatedly send Ms Chabloz to prison over her attempts to spread her antisemitic vitriol.

“Her landmark conviction following a private prosecution that we initiated was the first conviction over Holocaust denial in this country. It is prudent of the venue to have heeded our call for her to be denied a platform, and we are grateful to Vauxhall Ward councillors and local MP Florence Eshalomi for their support.”

Pictured top: The Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall (Picture: Google Street View)