‘Don’t 9/11 your friends’: Marc Maron, Shane Gillis slam Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart and other stars over Saudi comedy festival

Some of the most famous actors in the world – including American artists Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Louis CK and Bill Burr – have been nicknamed “Ferts” for having participated in a comedy festival sponsored by the Saudi state in the wake of another journalist, and a program reported in executions for non -lethal media and linked to drugs, as well as long condemnations. imposed on social media.

The Riyad Comedy Festival, organized by the Government of Saudi Arabia, is a new lucrative concert for actors of the big name while the country extends its entertainment sector as part of “Saudi Vision 2030”. The initiative, an original idea of ​​the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, also includes the very controversial Liv golf tournament and investments in the technology, game and venture capital sectors.

The other actors on list A on the bill in next week include Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings ,, Aziz Ansari, Gabriel Iglesias, Tom Segura and Sebastian Maniscalco, according to the event website. It is believed that artists earn several hundred thousand dollars over a million, according to an actor who was previously invited.

Few artists have promoted the program on social networks, and Riyadh’s stop does not seem largely on the dates of the tour of the actors’ website.

“How do you even promote this?” The actor Marc Maron joked during a stand-up set this week. “‘People who brought you on September 11, two weeks of laughter in the desert do not miss it.’ ‘

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He was not the only actor or a figure of the media to have addressed the irony of the upset actors occurring in a kingdom accused of brutally suppress freedom of expression.

“Absolute Seltouts,” wrote Jack Kennedy, a podcastor with the media company Bar stool Sporty, said programming.

In 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post Journalist was assassinated at the Arabian Embassy in Istanbul in the management of Bin Salman. Last June, the Saudi regime executed journalist Turki al-Jasser for “High Treason”. He was imprisoned in 2018 and sentenced to death for terrorism and high treason. The accusations came from writings he wrote on a blog and a newspaper.

“I mean, the same guy who will pay them, it’s the same guy who paid this guy to Bonesaw Jamal Khashoggi and put her in an AF *** suitcase,” said Maron. “But don’t let it stop yuks, it’s going to be a good time.”

Maron also noted that he had not been invited and joked that it was easier to have “integrity without pay check”.

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Tim Dillon, an actor who was to perform but who was then removed from the programming to joke about slavery in Saudi Arabia, said that he was offered $ 315,000 for a single show. Dillon said his most famous colleagues had been paid more than $ 1.6 million.

Comedian Shane Gillis said he was offered a place in the festival but refused it, citing the alleged involvement of Saudi Arabia in the financing of terrorist attacks on September 11. He said that after saying no, the festival has “doubled” its original offer.

“It was an important bag,” Gillis told his compatriot actor Matt McCusker on their podcast Matt and Shane’s secret podcast. “But I had already said no, I took a position in principle.”

“You are not 9/11 your friends, my brother,” joked McCusker.

Social media users specifically called Pete Davidson for participating because his father, a New York firefighter, died while responding to the terrorist attack.

“Pete Davidson’s father was a NY firefighter who died on September 11. The withdrawal of the tattoo is not cheap, but it’s still quite f ****, (sic),” said a Reddit user.

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Davidson defended his decision, telling the Podcastor Theo von that he had accepted the performance after seeing the amount he was paid.

The actors Jim Jefferies and Chris Distano also cited paid checks high for their defense. “I didn’t want to do it either,” Distefano told Stavros Halkias. “And then [Distefano’s wife] It was like “you’re going to take this money.” “”

“A journalist was killed by the government but not on the hill I am going to die,” Jefferies told Von.

The actors are not the only ones to be criticized for having received big payments from the Saudi government. Some professional golfers have been accused of “washing sport” for taking millions of dollars to play in the Liv Tournament supported by Saudi on the PGA.

Human Rights Watch warned that the Comedy Festival is the country’s last attempt to “divert the attention of its brutal repression from freedom of expression and other ubiquitous violations of human rights”.

“Everyone performing in Riyadh should take advantage of this highly publicized opportunity to call for the release of Saudi activists detained,” said Joey Shea, a researcher in Saudi Arabia.

The Amnesty International report in 2024 on Saudi Arabia said that even if the kingdom had made progress on labor rights, workers continue to face “forms of violence and labor exploitation”. Women are still victims of discrimination in weddings, childcare, divorce and inheritance. They also expressed concerns about an increase in execution for non -lethal and drug -related crimes, as well as prison terms for long prisons for online expression on social networks.

Zach Woods, an actor and actor famous for having played in The office, the Silicon Valley and Veepsatiated the festival and its range in a now viral Tiktok video.

“There are a lot of drops, Killjoys and Dweebazoïdes who say” Oh, they should not make a comedy there because it turns a diet which, just in June, killed a journalist and killed Jamal Khashoggi and played a big role in 9/11 “,” joked Woods.

“Shut up! Known an actor who did not have a dictator,” he added.