Shane Gillis And More Criticize Saudi Arabia Comedy Festival

Topline

A comedy festival featuring the likes of Pete Davidson, Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart launches Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, leading plenty of fellow comedians and human rights groups to slam those performing, citing human rights abuses and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Comedian Shane Gillis said he turned down a significant amount of money to perform in Riyadh, taking what he called a “principled stand.” (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation)

Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation

Key Facts

The Riyadh Comedy Festival spans from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9 and will feature performances from dozens of international comedians, nearly all of whom are American, in an event organizers have billed as the “world’s largest comedy festival.”

The event has sparked blowback from some comedians, including Shane Gillis, who said on an episode of his podcast he turned down a “significant bag” to perform at the festival, which he said organizers then offered to double, calling his refusal a “principled stand.”

Several critics of the Saudi comedy festival have cited the death of Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi authorities at a consulate in Istanbul in 2018, as reason to not support the Riyadh comedy festival.

Human Rights Watch alleged the Saudi government is hosting the festival to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations,” noting the dates coincide with the seventh anniversary of Khashoggi’s killing.

Participating comedians should “use the comedy festival to publicly urge Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained Saudi dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists,” Human Rights Watch said.

Who Is Performing At The Riyadh Comedy Festival?

In addition to Davidson, Chappelle and Hart, other comedians scheduled to perform in Riyadh include Jeff Ross, Aziz Ansari, Louis C.K., Jo Koy, Hannibal Buress, Jessica Kirson, Andrew Schulz, Sebastian Maniscalco, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Maz Jobrani, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Mark Normand, Russell Peters, Zarna Garg and Chris Tucker, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority website.

Which Comedians Have Spoken Out Against The Riyadh Comedy Festival?

Comedian Marc Maron slammed the Riyadh festival in a standup routine posted to his Instagram account. “I mean, how do you even promote that? ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don’t miss it!’” Maron said, referencing allegations Saudi officials were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, though the Saudi government has denied this and U.S. investigations have not directly blamed the Saudi government. Maron said he was not invited to perform at the festival: “It’s kind of easy for me to take the high road on this one. Easy to maintain your integrity when no one’s offering to buy it out.” In a satirical video on Instagram, comedian Zach Woods said, “There’s a lot drips, killjoys and dweebazoids who say, ‘They shouldn’t do comedy over there because they’re whitewashing a regime that, just in June, killed a journalist, and killed Jamal Khashoggi,” stating: “Shut up! Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themself out to a dictator.” Comedian Stavros Halkias said on a podcast episode with Chris Distefano, who is performing at the festival, he declined the invitation because “Saudi Arabia is spooky to me.” Distefano said he originally did not want to “take the Saudi money,” but decided to perform after his wife urged him to take the paycheck. Standup comedian Benny Feldman praised Gillis for turning down the Riyadh festival in a post on X, acknowledging he has criticized Gillis’ other political views in the past.

Surprising Fact

Comedian Tim Dillon said he was fired from his originally planned Riyadh festival gig because of comments he made about the country allegedly using forced labor in an episode of his podcast. “They heard what you said about them having slaves,” Dillon recalled his agent telling him, adding, “They didn’t like that.” Dillon claimed he was offered a $375,000 paycheck for participating in the festival, and said other comedians were offered sums up to $1.6 million.

What Have The Riyadh Comedy Festival Performers Said?

Many of the performers scheduled to take part in Riyadh’s comedy festival appear to be quiet on social media about the event. Some of the most famous participants, like Chappelle, Ansari and Hart, have not posted on their Instagram accounts about the Saudi festival. Davidson addressed his participation in an episode of Theo Von’s podcast this week, where he implied he took the gig for the money. “I get the routing, and I see the number, and I go, ‘I’ll go,’” Davidson said, acknowledging he is aware he has received “some flak” for performing.

Why Is Saudi Arabia Hosting So Many American Comedians?

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has made a push to expand its entertainment industry and boost tourism, part of the country’s “Vision 2030” plan to diversify its economy beyond oil. The Saudi government has since made investments into live music, sports and film, with the government lifting a decades-long ban on live music performances in 2017. Since then, Riyadh has hosted the annual SoundStorm music festival, which has annually drawn hundreds of thousands of attendees with headliners frequently including American singers. This year’s festival, scheduled for December, features headliners Post Malone, Calvin Harris and Benson Boone. Like the comedy festival, human rights groups have previously slammed stars for taking part in the SoundStorm festival, with Human Rights Watch urging performers in 2021 to “speak up for human rights or else not participate.” World Wrestling Entertainment signed a 10-year partnership with the Saudi government in 2018 in a deal reportedly worth about $500 million to host large-scale, livestreamed events in the country.