{"id":2265856,"date":"2026-02-04T03:50:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2265856"},"modified":"2026-02-04T03:50:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:50:32","slug":"comedian-defiant-as-minnesota-venue-cancels-six-sold-out-shows-after-he-mocked-renee-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/comedian-defiant-as-minnesota-venue-cancels-six-sold-out-shows-after-he-mocked-renee-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedian defiant as Minnesota venue cancels six sold-out shows after he mocked Renee Good"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F02%2Fcomedian-ben-bankas-defiant-minnesota-120360724.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A\u00a0Minnesota comedy club\u00a0abruptly canceled six sold-out shows by comedian Ben Bankas after a viral clip of his stand-up routine \u2014 in which he mocked a woman who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent \u2014 ignited outrage.<\/p>\n<p>Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul pulled the plug on Bankas\u2019 scheduled January 30\u2013February 1 performances after\u00a0backlash erupted\u00a0over jokes he made about Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother of three who was killed during an encounter with federal immigration authorities earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>Bankas\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUGVqHwju89\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">replied bluntly<\/a>\u00a0to the cancellations in a recent video posted to Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>He told an audience, \u201cI just found out that my shows were canceled\u00a0in Minnesota,\u201d prompting loud boos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cF\u2013k \u2019em,\u201d he added, appearing to refer to the venue.<\/p>\n<p>In the caption, Bankas wrote that he is \u201cworking on a new venue and dates for the fine people of Minnesota.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His response comes after he posted an Instagram video on January 13, filmed during a show in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., just days after Good\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>In the clip, which has racked up more than 8.9 million views as of February 3,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/benbankas2\/reel\/DTc_netjskD\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bankas said<\/a>, \u201cHer last name was Good. That\u2019s what I said after they shot her,\u201d and also referred to Good\u2019s wife as a \u201cdog.\u201d He also called Good \u201cr\u2014\u2013ded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Good was shot and killed\u00a0on January 7 after authorities said she swerved her vehicle toward an\u00a0ICE officer. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul, Minnesota, abruptly canceled six sold-out shows by comedian Ben Bankas after a viral clip of his stand-up routine mocking Renee Nicole Good caused outrage across social media. <span class=\"credit\">Instagram \/ Ben Bankas<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her death sparked protests in Minneapolis and beyond, intensifying scrutiny of federal agents\u2019 use of force.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions escalated further after another Minneapolis agitator, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed by federal agents on January 24. <\/p>\n<p>Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local leaders have publicly criticized ICE\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Bankas\u2019 shows from January 30 to February 1 were all canceled. <span class=\"credit\">Laugh Camp Comedy Club<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As Bankas\u2019 clip gained traction, St. Paul residents began signaling plans to protest outside his upcoming shows, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune \u2014 a development that pushed the comedy venue to cancel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a statement shared\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/ben-bankas-reacts-6-comedy-shows-canceled-after-he-mocked-renee-good-11896858\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with PEOPLE<\/a>, club owner Bill Collins said the decision came after weighing escalating risks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter discussions with, and concern from, public authorities, legal counsel and staff, combined with heightened threats, increasing media attention and civil disorder, we have determined the risks and related liabilities cannot be overcome,\u201d Collins said in an email.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Bankas made jokes about Renee Nicole Good, who was killed in an encounter with ICE agents on January 7, saying, \u201cHer last name was Good. That\u2019s what I said after they shot her,\u201d as the viral clip has almost 9 million views online. <span class=\"credit\">Facebook\/ODU English Department<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cA small club like ours does not have the needed resources to mitigate current risks,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are obligated to place the highest priority on the safety of our guests, staff and talent, and we are left with no option but to cancel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital has reached out to Bankas and Collins for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Collins, who has operated the club since 2007, told the Tribune the cancellations could cost him roughly $17,000. <\/p>\n<p>He also said Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which represents Bankas, is demanding full compensation for the canceled shows because the comedian was prepared to perform.<\/p>\n<p>According to Collins, CAA has also barred its other clients from booking the club until the dispute is resolved.<\/p>\n<p>Bankas was born in Toronto and is now based in\u00a0Austin, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He hosts YouTube\u2019s \u201cThe Tanakas Show,\u201d which his website says reaches more than 10,000 monthly listeners.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A\u00a0Minnesota comedy club\u00a0abruptly canceled six sold-out shows by comedian Ben Bankas after a viral clip of his stand-up routine \u2014 in which he mocked a woman who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent \u2014 ignited outrage. Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul pulled the plug on Bankas\u2019 scheduled January [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2265857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[22339,21741,22491,306903,305992,23844],"class_list":["post-2265856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-comedy","tag-entertainment","tag-instagram","tag-minnesota","tag-stand-up-comedy","tag-youtube"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Comedian-defiant-as-Minnesota-venue-cancels-six-sold-out-shows-after.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2265856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2265858,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265856\/revisions\/2265858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2265857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2265856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2265856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2265856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}