A comedian who was weeks away from taking the stage in front of a sold-out crowd at Kitchener’s Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts is no longer set to perform at the city-owned venue.
Ben Bankas, a Canadian-born comedian living in Texas, was expected to perform two shows at the Conrad Centre on March 7, but had begun to face growing backlash from the community in the weeks ahead.
Much of the pushback is centred around Bankas’s subject matter, with past shows featuring jokes involving residential schools, immigration, diversity, even recent events, including the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
It led to mounting pressures against both Bankas and the City of Kitchener, with the Conrad Centre being a city-owned venue.
“Due to overwhelming fan response, both Ben Bankas’s shows on Saturday, March 7 have been moved to Elements Nightclub,” said Bankas’ team in a statement to 570 NewsRadio.
The City of Kitchener confirmed the news, saying, “This event rental has been relocated. All ticket purchasers have been notified.”
This isn’t the first time Bankas has had his show face backlash in recent months; other shows have been cancelled completely in Minnesota, Thunder Bay, Kelowna, Calgary and North Bay.
“It’s a comedy show for consenting adults who understand the nuance and enjoy the commentary,” said Bankas to 570 NewsRadio. “Freedom of speech is important to me, and if people want to see taboo comedy, they should be able to.”
The stage inside the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts. (City of Kitchener)
Bankas’s team issued a statement to 570 NewsRadio, pointing to the issues surrounding people accusing the comedian of hate speech.
“To the people who are calling the venue to complain, and are angry over something that they haven’t seen. They don’t need to watch it or support it,” Bankas’s team said. “The people who accuse Bankas of hate speech are sorely misinformed about the satire and humour laws in Canada, which fully cover making satirical comments about current events and other sensitive subjects.”
In defence of the recent jokes that have caused much of the public backlash, the team stated, “His routine is different in Canada than in the U.S., so whatever people are seeing recently online, it’s not from a Canadian show.”
They also pointed to the popularity of Bankas, even within Waterloo Region, mentioning the sold-out shows and saying, “The community clearly wants to see these shows, that’s why they sell out fast.”
“Clearly, the people making these comments haven’t even seen me perform a set live, maybe we should give them a free ticket, and they can see for themselves,” Bankas stated.
Photo of comedian Ben Bankas performing during a live show. (Facebook/BenBankasComedy)
570 NewsRadio has reached out to the City of Kitchener for further comment on the circumstances surrounding the venue relocation.
While the shows themselves have been moved, it doesn’t mean that they have been cancelled entirely; now shifted to Elements Nightclub at 90 King St. W in downtown Kitchener.
“All tickets previously purchased will be honoured,” Bankas’s team mentioned. “The show times remain the same. The show remains a seated, general admission setting.”
It means Ben Bankas and his two scheduled shows will still be on the way in the coming weeks, currently set for March 7.