UPDATED March 28: Obeid’s March 27 response on his Instagram account to this article.
A popular Oakland-born comic, who was once profiled in the New York Times and appeared on “Conan,” went “off script” during a recent performance at a South Bay high school, according to the student group that invited him, and veered into material that the principal called “derogatory and antisemitic.”
Mountain View High School’s Muslim Students’ Association hosted the event, part of a “Youth Iftar” celebration that advertised prominent Muslim American guest speakers, including 49er Malik Mustapha and Amber Leibrock, a mixed-martial arts fighter. Some Jewish students were in attendance, according to Ella Persky, a senior and president of the high school’s Jewish Student Union.
“There’s quite a bit of frustration in the Jewish community that there wasn’t anyone to get him off the stage,” Persky told J. on Monday, speaking about the comedian.
Sammy Obeid has Palestinian heritage and is considered a sharp-witted and cerebral comic who, the Times noted, graduated with a 3.9 GPA from UC Berkeley where he studied applied math. He describes himself as a Lebanese Palestinian Syrian Italian American and as a “math comic.” He sometimes makes jokes about the mathematical constant pi.
Of late, much of his material has focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on sharp criticism of Israel. In one of his latest specials, recorded during what he called his “ceasefire tour,” he refers to himself jokingly as a “social justice jihadi.”
The day after the March 19 event, Principal Kip Glazer sent an email to parents criticizing the performance and distancing the school — and the MSA — from it.
A screenshot of Glazer’s email, which was shared with J., circulated in a WhatsApp group focused on local incidents of antisemitism. Glazer’s subject line was “Important message from MVHS.”
“Last night, there was a student-sponsored event on campus. There was a performer who made derogatory and antisemitic statements during his comedy routine. I want to affirm that MVHS condemns any form of antisemitism,” Glazer’s email said. “The MVHS Administration is taking this event very seriously and has followed up with the student organizers, who also share our sentiments.”
Glazer added, “It is essential that we not allow the careless actions of one outsider who chose to go against the wishes of our students to divide us.”
The principal did not respond to J.’s request for comment.
Upset parents wrote to the school principal, school board members and elected officials, according to a Jewish parent who spoke with J. on the condition of anonymity to protect her family’s identity.
“The concern is much wider than among Jewish families,” the parent said. “The school invited this comedian. If you look at his Instagram, in 15 seconds you see all of his jokes are either antisemitic or anti-American. Many children were exposed to that.”
Obeid was invited by Mountain View High School’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) to perform at an iftar program celebrating Muslim culture. Iftar is a meal eaten to break the fast during Ramadan. The school’s MSA is dedicated to the appreciation of Muslim and Arab culture, hosting events like henna workshops, Eid celebrations and lessons on writing your name in Arabic, according to its Instagram account.
The MSA and the Jewish Student Union have worked together in the past, including on a “unity panel” after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Persky said. That program was “fantastic,” she added.
Persky, who is editor-in-chief of the Midpeninsula Post, a regional student-run paper, said that she was not present for the comedy show, which took place on campus in a community room. However, she spoke to “various eyewitnesses,” including the MSA faculty adviser, who did not respond to J.’s request for comment.
Persky summarized what she heard from people who attended. “He started off with some jokes about being a mathematician,” she said. “He went to Berkeley. Then he started throwing in some heavy hitters.”
Obeid made one joke about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu getting cancer, Persky said. (In a March 24 X post, Obeid wrote that “calling Netanyahu a ‘war criminal’ is preposterous. He’s a literal supervillain.”) He reportedly also delivered a muddled joke about abortion and Israelis killing Palestinians.
Obeid did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He was set to perform in Oakland on Thursday before leaving for Europe, where he has shows scheduled in Ireland and across the U.K.
The day after this article was published, Obeid posted about it on Instagram with screengrabs from the article and his commentary. He titled the post “Ok let me explain…”
Obeid defended his performance, calling the principal’s accusation of antisemitism “outrageous” and joking about the origins of the negative attention he had received. “I looked into it, none of my exes are behind this,” he wrote. Obeid mused about whether he should pursue a defamation claim, adding the hashtags #framed, #slander and #legalizecomedy.
He also claimed that J. didn’t reach out to him for comment. However J. sent a direct message to him on Instagram, a message through his website and another to a chatbot feature on his website, all requesting an interview prior to publication.
“I have zero apologies to make for simply doing two jokes calling out the g-cide in Gaza,” he wrote on Instagram.
The incident has raised questions about the vetting process for on-campus guests performing for teenage students, multiple people told J., considering Obeid’s online presence and previous stage performances were rife with political content, focusing on unsparing criticism of Israel and of American support for the country.
In his “Social Justice Jihadi” special, which was released in February and features performances at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco, Obeid railed against what he called “AIPAC talking points” and against American politicians who he says support Israel because they are paid off.
He criticized using the word “antisemitic” to refer to Palestinians.
“Palestinians are semitic,” he said in the special. “If you are pro-Palestine, you are pro-semitic. End of f—king discussion.” The audience cheered. He also jokingly said that he supports “Zionism,” provided that its definition was simply that Jews should have a homeland. “Florida is a beautiful state,” he said.
Sometimes his material makes use of antisemitic tropes.
On March 10, he posted on X that the American government has been “infiltrated by a foreign nation” and that American politicians who support Israel “are being paid off all the way to the top,” echoing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish control. In another X post responding to pro-Israel Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Obeid wrote, “but can you tell me how much they pay you?”
In a March 7 post on X, he wrote that the “Epstein files will be released the day the US stops funding Israel,” suggesting that the full extent of the crimes of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his network are being covered up by Israel, a conspiracy theory also backed by the far-right.
The Muslim Students’ Association expressed remorse about the performance, according to the principal’s message, and stated that MSA leaders had asked Obeid to refrain from politics in his set.
“We want to acknowledge the concerns that have been raised regarding the comedian’s performance,” according to a statement attributed to the Muslim Students’ Association. “When we invited him, we were intentional in our request that he keep his set apolitical and irreligious, aligning with the spirit of the event. Unfortunately, despite our clear expectations, he went off script in a way that was neither anticipated nor endorsed” by the group.
According to Persky, Obeid finished his set but was aware that there were issues with it while he was onstage. He said something like, “let me get this last one out,” she noted, adding that he didn’t stay to mingle with students afterward.
“It seemed clear from his wording that he knew something was awry,” Persky said.