Broadway producer James L. Simon was seen tearing down fliers of Israeli civilians who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.
Simon, who previously produced the 2022 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman as well as Pippin and Bells are Ringing, was “seen at West 62nd Street and Broadway using scissors to remove a poster featuring one of the roughly 200 hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel,” according to the New York Post. A video of him tearing the flyers was shared online by the neighborhood blog I Love the Upper West Side.
In the video, Simon could be seen crumpling the flier that had been previously taped to a traffic sensor box before throwing it into the garbage can. The neighborhood is known for its large Jewish population.
Man rips down poster of Israeli held hostage by Hamas — 62nd and Broadway. @StopAntisemites pic.twitter.com/s84miFjhdk
— I Love The Upper West Side (@iLoveTheUWS) October 24, 2023
Adam Epstein, a former Broadway producer who hosts the podcast Dirty Moderate, told The Post, “You’re going to a dark and devious place if you’ve come to a place where you’re ripping posters off the wall of Israeli hostages, of innocent people held captive by terrorists.”
Simon told The Post that he removed the posters to keep the city streets clean and apologized for the video.
“I’m a strong supporter of free speech and encourage people to express their opinions, but all I’m asking is to do it legally,” he said.
Simon cited the city Sanitation Department rules, which say, “It is illegal for any person to paste, post, paint, print, nail, or attach or affix by any means whatsoever any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker, or other printed material upon any curb, gutter, flagstone, tree, lamppost, awning post, telegraph pole, telephone pole, public utility pole…”
Last week, Yazmeen Deyhimi, a junior at NYU, was one of several students “who brazenly ripped down posters of Israeli hostages,” according to the New York Post. Deyhimi participated in this despite previously working as an intern for the ADL, an organization that hailed her as an activist “extremely passionate about fighting racial profiling.” After her actions went viral on social media, Deyhimi semi-apologized on Instagram in a now-deleted post:
I have found it increasingly difficult to know my place as a biracial brown woman, especially during these highly volatile times,” she wrote. “I have felt more and more frustrated about the time we currently find ourselves in, and that misplaced anger into actions that are not an accurate representation of who I am as a person.
“In this age of social media and digital footprint, these moments of anger are selfish and self-absorbed, and not reflective of who I am as a person or who my family had raised me to be,” she added.
Deyhimi did say that she does not support terrorism and that she hopes the Israeli hostages safely return home.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.