{"id":10804,"date":"2025-10-10T01:19:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10804"},"modified":"2025-10-10T01:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T05:19:54","slug":"cancel-culture-they-didnt-laugh-and-you-wont-get-the-chance-calgary-venue-cancels-comedian-ben-bankas-over-indigenous-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10804","title":{"rendered":"CANCEL CULTURE: THEY DIDN’T LAUGH AND YOU WON’T GET THE CHANCE: Calgary venue cancels comedian Ben Bankas over Indigenous joke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

: Calgary venue cancels comedian Ben Bankas over Indigenous jokes<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A Calgary casino cancelled a performance by Toronto comedian Ben Bankas after receiving two complaints about jokes he made regarding residential schools.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Source: Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Author: Quinn Patrick<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Calgary casino cancelled a performance by Toronto comedian Ben Bankas after receiving two complaints about jokes he made regarding residential schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey said that they got two complaint emails, and they forwarded one of them to me,\u201d Bankas told True North. \u201cI guess some woman saw the video on Facebook and was offended.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The video<\/a>, posted to social media by Bankas on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, showcases him from a previous set saying that he\u2019d just returned from Winnipeg, and it was like \u201can Indigenous zombie apocalypse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was thinking it\u2019d be nice if there\u2019s, you know, some sort of school we could send them to,\u201d he continued. \u201cUnfortunately, that ship has sailed. Say what you want about the residential schools, but you know, it\u2019s nice architecture\u2026 I\u2019m just saying it like those schools\u2026 If you wanted to go to a residential school now, in 2025 it\u2019d be like $40,000 a year. Those motherf**kers got it for free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was scheduled to play at the Grey Eagle Casino on the Tsuut\u2019ina Nation in Calgary on Oct. 24, but the venue cancelled after receiving two complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis comedian goes by the name of \u2018Ben Bankas,\u2019 is due to perform at your event centre on October 24 2025 as advertised on social media,\u201d reads the complaint shared with Benkas. \u201cI would strongly advise your team to reconsider unless some sort of public apology is made to the Indigenous people of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comedian had performed in Calgary several times at the Yuk Yuk\u2019s comedy club in recent years before moving to the Deerfoot Inn & Casino for larger seating capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor two years I was doing sold out shows at Yuks and then we stepped up to Deerfoot, and then this was like the next step up,\u201d said Benkas. \u201cI think they still should have done the show even though they were offended,\u201d reflected Benkas. \u201cBut with everything that\u2019s going with Bill C-8 and C-9, it\u2019s a\u2026weird time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bill C-8 is currently before Parliament for its second reading, which would make changes<\/a> to the Telecommunications Act. Section 15.2 (1) of one of the Bill\u2019s parts enables the federal government to \u201cprohibit a telecommunications service provider from providing any service to any specific person, including a telecommunications service provider.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The justification for doing so includes \u201cany reasonable grounds to believe it is necessary to do so to secure the Canadian telecommunications system against any threat, including that of interference, manipulation, disruption, or degradation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Bill C-9, entitled An Act to amend<\/a> the Criminal Code (hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places), was introduced last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed legislation would define \u201chatred\u201d in the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked whether he faced any other backlash from the video, Bankas said there were a few \u201cdeath threats and weird DMs (direct messages).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne person said they \u2018were going to hunt me down like the animal I was,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the show was cancelled, roughly 1,700 of 2,300 available tickets had been sold. While those who purchased tickets have been refunded, the two parties involved are still sorting out payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unconfirmed if they\u2019re going to pay me because there was a guarantee,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a percentage of ticket sales. So it\u2019s up in the air whether they\u2019re going to pay me or not. I think they should.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When True North contacted Grey Eagle Casino, they stated the show was cancelled due to \u201cunforeseen circumstances\u201d but declined to comment on Bankas\u2019 financial situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of the recent venue cancellation, Bankas said his career is going great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAudiences love it. The shows are all selling out. Pretty much everything is sold out for the next two months,\u201d he said. \u201cI just put out a special aimed mostly towards a Canadian audience called Invasion<\/em>. It\u2019s on my YouTube channel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show at Grey Eagle Casino has been relocated to Yuk Yuk\u2019s comedy club in Calgary for seven shows between October 24 and 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

: Calgary venue cancels comedian Ben Bankas over Indigenous jokes A Calgary casino cancelled a performance by Toronto comedian Ben Bankas after receiving two complaints about jokes he made regarding residential schools. Oct 9   READ IN APP   Author: … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6092,6082,6070,6094,6093,6095,6096],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10806,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804\/revisions\/10806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}