Comedian Dave Chappelle used his performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival to rail against censorship in the United States—after attendees signed gag orders shielding Saudi royals and cashing in on major paydays.
"Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you'll get canceled," Chappelle said during his set. "It's easier to talk here than it is in America," he added to applause.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival, which began Sept. 26 and will run through Oct. 9, features a list of major stars, including Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, and Aziz Ansari, and reportedly offers major paydays. It's created a flashpoint in the comedy world, with some comics criticizing the festival—and their fellow stand-ups—for accepting money from a regime with a laundry list of human rights violations.
Chappelle's comments stand in stark contrast to the gag order included in a contract the Saudis offered to at least some performers, such as Atsuko Okatsuka, who declined the invitation. It prohibits the artists from performing any material "that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule" Saudi Arabia, its leaders and royal family, culture, or any religion.
"The money is coming straight from the Crown Prince, who actively executes journalists, ppl wnonlethal [sic] drug offenses, bloggers, etc w/out due process," Okatsuka wrote in an X post alongside screenshots of her contract. "A lot of the 'you can't say anything anymore!' Comedians are doing the festival."
"[T]hey had to adhere to censorship rules to do it," she added with a laughing emoji.
Chappelle himself was flooded with critics calling for his cancellation—with some success—over making jokes about transgender people in his stand-up routines.
It isn't clear if every performer agreed to the restrictions Okatsuka faced, but Burr acknowledged signing off on a scaled-back version after pushing back. He said the Saudi royals enjoyed the show—after he agreed not to make fun of them.
"To their credit, they said, 'All right, what do we got to do?' And they negotiated it all the way down to just a couple things: Don't make fun of royals or religion," Burr said this week on his Monday Morning Podcast.
"The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy," he added. "The people that were doing the festival were thrilled."
Burr also said that he expected everyone "to be screaming 'Death to America' and they're going to have like fucking machetes and want to chop my head off" because "this is what I've been fed about that part of the world."
The CIA, in fact, determined Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered with a bonesaw. And of the 19 9/11 hijackers, 15 were Saudi citizens.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival, like LIV Golf, is part of Saudi Arabia's effort to change that image. Hart embraced the opportunity to play a part.
"But I love what y'all are doing here," he said during his set. "I'll continue being a positive ambassador of your change to the world."
Other comedians outright dismissed Saudi Arabia's human rights record. Pete Davidson, a former Saturday Night Live cast member, pointed to the payday.
"I've been getting a little bit of flak just because my dad died in 9/11. So they're like, 'How could you possibly go there?'" Davidson said last week on Theo Von's podcast, This Past Weekend. "I get the routing, and then I see the number, and I go, 'I'll go.'"
Ahead of the festival, Jim Jefferies compared Saudi Arabia's record to America's, noting that the kingdom had killed a journalist. Jefferies's name was eliminated from the lineup shortly thereafter.
"There's been a reporter who they killed. You don't think our government has fucking bumped people? I think Jeffrey Epstein was fucking bumped off," Jefferies said on This Past Weekend in August.
Other comedians, however, joined Okatsuka, with Marc Maron, David Cross, and Shane Gillis all speaking out.
"I am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing," Cross said. "That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for...what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?"
Gillis said he was offered "a significant bag" after declining Saudi Arabia's offer.
"But I'd already said no. I took a principled stand," he said. "You don't 9/11 your friends."
