United Agents is “conducting a full and thorough investigation” into one of the most prominent British comedy agents after she was called out for a spate of reposts and shares regarding the Israel–Hamas conflict.
Kitty Laing, who is United’s Head of Comedy and represents the likes of Katherine Ryan, Nick Mohammed and Jamie Demetriou, was the subject of an X thread this morning by Oscar-nominated Borat Subsequent Moviefilm writer Lee Kern.
United said it was “made aware of social media posts by one of our senior agents this morning” and is “conducting a full and thorough investigation into this immediately.” “These are not the views of United Agents,” it added. Laing has apologized in the past few minutes.
In this morning’s lengthy thread, Kern highlighted a string of Laing’s reposts including one calling for Jews in Israel to be referred to as “settler paramilitaries”, another that refers to “fake beheaded babies” in the context of the Al-Shifa Hospital attack and one that alludes to Israel being resonsible for that disputed attack. Scroll to the bottom for the full thread.
Laing has deleted her Instagram account but in one Instagram screenshot shared with Deadline, Laing calls the UK’s Labour Party leader Keir Starmer “absolutely disgusting” and a “total moral coward” for insisting that Israel has a right “to defend herself” on his LBC radio show. A number of other Twitter screenshots include reposts of a tweet from the BBC’s Man Like Mobeen creator Guz Khan on October 18, who wrote: “At least now the entire planet can see what the West and Israel are all about.” Another Laing repost says: “If you’re confused about which side to be on: There is a global, multi-racial, multi-faith, popular movement for justice in solidarity with Palestine. There isn’t one for Israel.”
Prominent British comedians such as Khan and fellow Man Like Mobeen star Tez Ilyas have tweeted frequently about the conflict since it started on October 7 following the Hamas attacks on Israel, which claimed the lives of an estimated 1,400 civilians and saw 200 kidnapped.
Laing deleted then re-added her Twitter account to post an apology this afternoon. She said she “apologised unreservedly,” adding: “With hindsight I realise how naive I have been and that much of the information on social media surrounding the conflict is unsubstantiated and hurtful.”
Kern’s thread comes just two days after CAA Co-Head of Motion Pictures Maha Dakhil temporarily stepped away from day to day leadership and resigned from the agency’s internal board after reposting an Instagram story that said: “You’re currently learning who supports genocide.”
