A-list comedians face backlash for performing at Saudi Arabian festival
A comedy festival in the capital of Saudi Arabia has become a cultural flash point when the main actors are confronted with criticisms to accept apparently lucrative agreements to obtain in a country which was practically impossible to visit until 2019 and a pariah in a large part of the West for its human rights record.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival, which started Friday and takes place until October 9, presents a variety of big names such as Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Pete Davidson, Andrew Schulz, Jo Koy, Bill Burr, Jessica Kirson, Jimmy Carr and Louis CK
These actors, most American, now meet the resistance of certain fans, human rights defenders and other industry comics.
Marc Maron, host of the “WTF” podcast, exploded the festival in a recent stand-up clip, a joking that it was easy for him to “take the high road on it” since he was not invited to play.
“I mean, how do you even promote?” Said Maron. “Like,” people who brought you on September 11, two weeks of laughter in the desert. Don’t miss him. I mean, the same guy who will pay them is the same guy who paid this guy to the bone ball Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a suitcase F — ING. “”
The Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, refused to comment. The general entertainment authority of Saudi Arabia, which announced the festival in July, did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
“The festival is the largest of its kind in the world, bringing together a selection of award -winning comedy stars known for their exceptional performances on international scenes and streaming platforms,” wrote the Saudi news agency in its announcement for the General Entertainment Authority. “This reflects efforts to amplify the status of Riyadh as the main destination for the main cultural and artistic events.”
Saudi Arabia, the house rich in oil from the two most bled sites in Islam, has been among the most socially conservative nations of the land for years with a morality police imposing a strict interpretation of Sharia law. In recent years, under the reign of de facto leader, the crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the country has widened its cultural and political influence by diversifying its economy and investing in sports, entertainment and tourism to improve its global image. At the same time, the crown prince supervised a radical repression against dissent – imprisoning the dissatisfied royals, defenders of women’s rights and the reform of clerics as well as members of the supporters previously sanctioned by the government of a strict Islam Wahhabi.
Celebrities and influencers have often been criticized for having played in the country or participated in tourism campaigns, and FIFA aroused condemnation last year for the selection of Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 World Cup.
Shane Gillis, who said he was offered an invitation, said the organizers “double the bag” or the amount of money offered, after refusing to participate.
“It was an important bag, but I had already said no,” said Gillis on his podcast. “I took a position in principle.”
On Tiktok and Instagram, verified accounts that seemed to belong to Turki Al-Sheikh, a royal court advisor who has become a powerful figure in sports and entertainment as part of the push of Saudi Arabia in the world culture industry, published videos of Chappelle and Hart.
In a press release from last week, Human Rights Watch wrote that the Saudi government uses the festival “to divert attention from its brutal repression of freedom of expression and other omnipresent human rights violations” and called on artists “to publicly exhivate the Saudi authorities to unjustly release Saudi dissidents, journalists and human rights”.
The non -profit surveillance organization noted that certain events land the seventh anniversary of the assassination of the Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi consulate of Istanbul by intelligence agents with close ties to the Crown Prince. The festival also takes place a few months after the Saudi authorities executed Turki Al-Jasser, a journalist known for exposing corruption within the Saudi royal family.
“The seventh anniversary of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi is not a question of laughing,” said Joey Shea, a researcher in Saudi Arabia at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “And the actors receiving significant sums from the Saudi authorities should not be silent on prohibited subjects in human rights in Saudi or freedom of expression.”
The other artists listed for the festival include: Sebastian Maniscalco, Maz Jobrani, Tom Segura, Whitney Cummings, Jimeoin, Russell Peters, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Chris Distefano, Mark Normand, Gabriel Iglesias, Hannibal Buress, Sam Morril, Omid, Djalili, Alik, Zarnai, Garg, Omid Djalili, Aliadiq, Zarnau ,, Omin Chris Tucker and Ben Hart.
These artists did not respond to requests for comments.
The Saudi government was censored by dozens of countries and, in 2024, it was denied a second attempt to mark a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. In the United States, relatives of the victims of terrorist attacks on September 11 accused the Saudi government of having potential ties with the attack. (A direct link has not been proven.)
But he also made significant breakthroughs with powerful figures in the West, including the Trump family. President Donald Trump’s son -in -law Jared Kushner worked with the Saudis to obtain an investment of $ 2 billion in his business and recently joined the country’s public investment fund to conclude an agreement of $ 55 billion to conclude the Electronic Arts Private arts giant. Trump has maintained a close relationship with the crown prince throughout the Saudi royal mandate.
The festival and subsequent benefits also provided a rare window on these events and, in particular, money and self -censorship often involved.
An actress, Atsuko Okatsuka, has published screenshots on the sons of what she said was her invitation to the festival, including a section on “content restrictions” who have prohibited artists from achieving equipment that can be considered degraded, moving or ridicuing the country, her royal family or her religion.
“Lots of” you can’t say anything anymore! “The actors make the 😂” Okatsuka festival wrote. “They had to respect the rules of censorship on the types of jokes they can do.”
Mike Birbiglia and Leslie Liao were part of the comics who responded to her post, sharing that they had also rejected the offer.
Stavros Halkias also revealed in an episode of Podcast with distefano, who agreed to play, that he did not conclude the agreement. Distefano told Halkias that even if he “did not want to do it either”, his fiancée had finally urged him to “take this money”.
At least one actor, however, seems to have changed his mind, despite his first agreement to play. Nimesh Patel, who was to go on stage on Sunday, published a Tiktok video during the weekend by sharing that he recently canceled his appearance after having “a change of heart”. This video has since become unavailable.
“I’m just going to make 40 shows that I did not plan to do here in the United States of America perfectly clean, moral, above everyone, the United States-I am tired in thinking-to compensate for the lost bag,” said Patel.
Meanwhile, the actor and podcaster Tim Dillon declared in an episode of his podcast that he had been withdrawn from the festival for having made a joke on the country “having slaves”.
“I’m going to get people who are not even the Saudis. I will be dismissed by people who do not cut my hand. I will be dismissed by reasonable people. I will be dismissed by people who do not practice Sharia law,” said Dillon. “It is the most controversial that people who ever fire me. Let me savor in there. Take this victory. “
The Saudi Embassy did not immediately respond to a confirmation request on the cancellation of patel and Dillon emissions.
