.jpg?width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "‘Don’t 9/11 your friends’: Marc Maron, Shane Gillis slam Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart and other stars over Saudi comedy festival – UK Times")
Some of the world’s best-known comedians — including American performers Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Louis C.K., and Bill Burr — have been dubbed “sellouts” for taking part in a Saudi state-sponsored comedy festival in the wake of another journalist’s killing, and a reported rise in executions for non-lethal and drug-related crimes, along with long prison sentences imposed for social media posts.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival, hosted by Saudi Arabia’s government, is a new, lucrative gig for big-name comedians as the country expands its entertainment sector as part of “Saudi Vision 2030.” The initiative, brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also includes the highly-controversial LIV Golf tournament and investments in the tech, gaming, and venture capital sectors.
Other A-list comedians on the bill over the next week include Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings,, Aziz Ansari, Gabriel Iglesias, Tom Segura, and Sebastian Maniscalco, according to the event’s website. The performers are believed to be making anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to more than one million, according to a comedian who was previously invited.
Few performers have promoted the show on social media, nor does the Riyadh stop appear widely on the comedians’ website tour dates.
“How do you even promote that?” comedian Marc Maron joked during a stand-up set this week. “‘From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert don’t miss it.’”
He wasn’t the only comedian or media figure who addressed the irony of edgy comedians performing in a kingdom accused of brutally repressing free speech.
“Absolute sellouts,” wrote Jack Kennedy, a podcaster with media company Barstool Sports, said of the lineup.
In 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, was murdered in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul at the direction of bin Salman. This past June, the Saudi regime executed journalist Turki al-Jasser for “high treason.” He was imprisoned in 2018 and sentenced to death on charges of terrorism and high treason. The accusations stemmed from writings he authored on a blog and a newspaper.
“I mean, the same guy that’s going to pay them, is the same guy that paid that guy to bonesaw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a f***ing suitcase,” Maron also said. “But don’t let that stop the yuks, it’s going to be a good time.”
Maron also noted that he had not been invited, and joked it was easier to have “integrity without a paycheck.”
Tim Dillon, a comedian who was scheduled to perform but was later pulled from the line-up for joking about slavery in Saudi Arabia, said he was offered $315,000 for a single show. Dillon claimed his more famous colleagues were paid upwards of $1.6 million.
Comedian Shane Gillis said he was offered a spot in the festival but turned it down, citing the Saudi’s alleged involvement in funding the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He claimed that after he said no, the festival “doubled” his original offer.
“It was a significant bag,” Gillis told fellow comedian Matt McCusker on their podcast Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. “But I had already said no, I took a principled stand.”
“You don’t 9/11 your friends, bro,” McCusker joked.
Social media users specifically called out Pete Davidson for participating because his father, a New York City firefighter, died while responding to the terrorist attack.
“Pete Davidson’s father was a NY fire fighter who died on 9/11. Tattoo removal ain’t cheap, but that’s still pretty f**** up, (sic)” one Reddit user said.
Davidson defended his decision, telling podcaster Theo Von that he agreed to the performance after seeing the amount he was being paid.
Comedians Jim Jefferies and Chris Distefano also cited high paychecks in their defense. “I didn’t want to do it either,’” Distefano told Stavros Halkias. “And then [Distefano’s wife] was like ‘You’re going to take that f***ing money.’”
“One reporter was killed by the government but not a f***ing hill I’m going to die on,” Jefferies told Von.
The comedians aren’t the only ones to be criticized for taking large payouts from the Saudi government. Some professional golfers were accused of “sports-washing” for taking millions of dollars to play in the Saudi-backed LIV tournament over the PGA.
Human Rights Watch warned that the comedy festival is the country’s latest attempt to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”
“Everyone performing in Riyadh should use this high-profile opportunity to call for the release of detained Saudi activists,” Joey Shea, a Saudi Arabia HRW researcher, said.
Amnesty International’s 2024 report on Saudi Arabia said that while the kingdom had made progress on labor rights, workers continue to face “forms of labour abuse and exploitation.” Women are still discriminated against in marriages, child custody, divorce, and inheritance. They also raised concerns about a rise in execution for non-lethal and drug-related crimes, along with long prison sentences imposed for online expression on social media.
Zach Woods, a comedian and actor famous for starring in The Office, Silicon Valley and Veep, satirized the festival and its line-up in a now-viral TikTok video.
“There’s a lot of drips, killjoys, and dweebazoids who are saying ‘Oh, they shouldn’t do comedy over there because it’s whitewashing a regime that just in June killed a journalist and killed Jamal Khashoggi and played a big role in 9/11,’” Woods joked.
“Shut up! Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themself out to a dictator,” he added.
