Several comedians have been heavily criticised for performing at the first-ever Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, due to the Saudi government’s alleged human rights abuses and the way it oppresses its critics.
Debate has raged over whether stand-up comedians like Dave Chappelle, Jimmy Carr, Bill Burr, Chris Tucker, Kevin Hart, Louis C.K. and Hannibal Buress should rent their talents to a wealthy and repressive regime.
Celebrated comedian David Cross shared on Instagram: “I am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing. That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for…what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?”
“We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it’s complaining that we don’t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBQT peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings),” he continued.
Cross also wrote in an open letter: “How can any of us take any of you seriously ever again? All of your bitching about ‘cancel culture’ and ‘freedom of speech’ and all that s–t? Done. You don’t get to talk about it ever again.”
While Saudi Arabia has taken steps to welcome more Western influence in the past few years – like allowing women to drive and play sports – the latest attempt by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salem to establish a two-week entertainment platform has been overshadowed by Hollywood talent taking handsome paychecks – especially at a time when the battle over free expression in the US is escalating under the Trump administration’s threats to cancel comedians like Jimmy Kimmel or Rosie O’Donnell.
Human Rights Watch weighed in on the festival, describing it as Saudi Arabia’s latest attempt to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”
The non-profit’s campaign against the event has once more put the spotlight on the dissidents who are currently detained in Saudi prisons, as well as the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
“The seventh anniversary of [slain Saudi journalist] Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder is no laughing matter, and comedians receiving hefty sums from Saudi authorities shouldn’t be silent on prohibited topics in Saudi-like human rights or free speech,” HRW Researcher Joey Shea said in a press release on the eve of the festival. “Everyone performing in Riyadh should use this high-profile opportunity to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.”
None of the comics who performed in Riyadh used their platforms to mention the detainees or the human rights abuses.
Now, Human Rights Watch have said that they “cannot accept” donations from comedians who “generously offered to donate part of their performance fees” from the Riyadh Comedy Festival.
“While we cannot accept, it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists,” Shea said. “Human Rights Watch didn’t call for comedians to boycott the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but simply asked them to express their support for free speech by urging the release of Saudi activists unjustly imprisoned.”
When pressed on the issue by Jimmy Kimmel, comedian Aziz Ansari, who attended the festival, said: “You kind of have to make a choice of whether you’re going to isolate or engage. For me, especially being me and looking the way I do and being from a Muslim background, it felt like something I should be a part of. And I hope it pushes things in a positive direction.”
Ansari and others offered a portion of their performance fee to Human Rights Watch – donations which have been refused.
For her part, comedian Whitney Cummings has hit back at the backlash over the festival, saying on Sunday’s episode of her podcast, Good For You: “I guess I’m this weirdo. I don’t operate under, you know, the idea that every government and their people are the same… You think that the people of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government all [share the same values]? So you also believe that the Chinese government and the Chinese people are exactly the same?”
She added: “It’s just racism. I think it took me a second, because when people are going like, ‘You’re doing something unethical,’ I’m like, ‘Oh, these must be ethical people, let me listen.’ And then you’re like, ‘Oh no, you’re just racist.’ These are also the same people who would go, ‘Trump is not my president! I am nothing like our president.’ But other countries are?”
The Riyadh Comedy Festival (26 September – 9 October) was part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to improve the global image of the country, as well as diversify its economy. Critics of the Saudi regime continue to claim the Vision 2030 plan and its entertainment initiatives are a clear whitewashing attempt from the Saudi government.