Dame Maureen Lipman has spoken out about the support she received after pro-Palestinian campaigners called for a boycott of her theatre appearances in Scotland because of her public backing for Israel.
The acclaimed actress said members of a group known as Mensch came to her defence, attending performances in Aberdeen and Glasgow to “protest against the protestors” as she faced a campaign targeting her shows.
In a column for The Spectator, Dame Maureen thanked the organisation for standing by her after demonstrations were threatened in response to her views on Israel and anti-Semitism.
She wrote: “The gang of protestors who tried to boycott me from theatres in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Bath for believing in the state of Israel’s right to exist went underground in London.
“They were replaced by an altruistic band of brethren of all faiths called Mensch, who turned up to protest against the protestors.
“G-d Bless them, they are the voice of sanity in the face of the activists behind Palestine Action.”
Dame Maureen also referred to a separate controversy, claiming that a group of “sanctimonious actors” had pushed Boy George out of his agreement to play King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar.
She alleged they had put pressure on producer Michael Harrison to remove him from the role because, in her words, he had “in a brave song called ‘We will Dance Again’, defended Israel’s right to defend itself after the Hamas pogrom”.
Dame Maureen Lipman praised Mensch for backing her amid a campaign against her by pro-Palestinian activists
The actress said: ‘In other words, George has a different political stance from some of the cast. Powerful people.
‘The show itself concerns a nice Jewish rabbi fighting prejudice from angry mobs in his ancestral home of Israel.
‘Could this be the death of irony?’
Dame Maureen, a former Coronation Street star, also criticised what she described as growing efforts to silence those with pro-Israel views.
Her comments come months after controversy erupted over a campaign targeting her appearance in Aberdeen.
The Mail revealed in June that Police Scotland had been criticised after ruling that an allegedly anti-Semitic image of Dame Maureen was not a hate crime.
The force had been assessing a photograph posted on Facebook showing the actress with red devil’s horns and a trident.
The image was shared by pro-Palestine activists calling for her to be dropped from a play, prompting concern among Scotland’s Jewish community.
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), which posted the image, urged people to support a petition demanding that the 80-year-old actress be prevented from taking to the stage.
Police eventually logged the photograph as a non-crime hate incident, meaning officers concluded it fell short of criminality, although details were retained on file.
Police were present outside His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen following the campaign to cancel Dame Maureen’s performance
The decision sparked criticism because it came after the introduction of Scotland’s Hate Crime Act in 2024, which created offences relating to ‘stirring up hatred’.
The legislation criminalised the ‘communication of threatening or abusive material which is intended to stir up hatred against a group of people’.
Dame Maureen appeared at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen in May in Allegra, a touring comedy by Peter Quilter.
Although protesters had been expected to gather outside the venue, there were no reports of trouble.
The SPSC had launched a petition entitled ‘Stop Maureen Lipman Performing at HMT Aberdeen’ and circulated the image depicting the actress with devil’s horns.
In medieval Christian folklore and artwork, Jews were often portrayed with grotesque features including horns and other Satanic imagery.
At the time, the SPSC said: ‘Over the past decade Lipman has openly voiced extremist, Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views. Write to Aberdeen Performing Arts and make it clear: racists are not welcome here.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said the social media content had been ‘assessed and recorded as a non-crime hate incident’
