‘Stranger Things’ Actor Brett Gelman’s Signing Canceled At Book Soup Over Safety Concerns
deadline.comCiting safety concerns, Book Soup has canceled a March 27 appearance by Stranger Things actor and author Brett Gelman. The store claimed that escalating threats “became a safety risk we were not willing to take.” The store has hosted many controversial authors over the years and has rarely canceled, but said “the current charged environment” forced its hand.
Gelman has been outspoken in his support of Israel in the wake of Oct. 7, but claims the cancellations on his book tour were because of his emphasis on his “Jewish identity.” Gelman’s book, The Terrifying Realm of the Possible: Nearly True Stories, is not overtly political and in the vein of Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint.
The anthology weaves five interconnected short stories told through the perspective of five different Jewish characters. Gelman describes it as a “return to the literature that I loved and that I felt wasn’t being represented — dark Jewish humor.” The book is scheduled for release March 19.
His appearances were also been canceled at Book Passage in San Francisco and The Book Stall in Winnetka, Illinois, and had an upcoming date in New York on March 19 at Town Hall canceled.
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