US comedian Reginald D Hunter is being privately prosecuted by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) over posts he sent to a woman, a court heard.
The 56-year-old stand-up is accused of three counts of sending an offensive communication to Heidi Bachram on X on 24 August, 10 September and 11 September last year.
He was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday but Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram issued a warrant for him to attend court on 7 July in his absence.
Prosecutor Donal Lawler told the court that Hunter is a “well-known comedian” who is being privately prosecuted by the charity.
It is alleged Hunter sent a computer-generated sexual image to Ms Bachram in August last year, with the charges claiming it was “grossly offensive”.
It’s alleged that he then sent two antisemitic messages in the following days.
Hunter regularly tours the UK and has appeared on comedy panel shows Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You and 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
Mr Lawler told the court on Friday that the comedian was due to begin a tour of England and Wales tomorrow.
The prosecutor said Hunter was scheduled to do a gig in London on 6 July, adding that his legal team may be able to serve him his court summons in person at the venue on that date.
The CAA describes itself as an organisation of volunteers which works to “expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law”.
Stephen Silverman, the group’s director of investigations and enforcement, said: “This is one of a number of private prosecutions that we are bringing, and there will be more to say on the case in due course.”
Hunter’s representatives have been approached for comment.
