Jim Jefferies disappeared from the Riyadh festival lineup after he said on Theo Von’s podcast: ‘One reporter was killed by the [Saudi] government – unfortunate, but not a fucking hill that I’m gonna die on.’
What a fucking loser. He threw his soul away AND lost the payday. Lose-lose fucking loser.
“Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.” - Paul Mooney.
We really got the worst era of comedy. Bunch of court jesters dancing for a king while the city burns
American comedy is become irredeemably lame. Though Jimmy Carr is on the list there too but at least him being a spineless whore is kinda his schtick
They were funded by these large groups and that isn’t talked about enough. It wasn’t just SA blood money they chased. They took it from hertiage foudation and other conservative groups. Most probably didn’t even realize they were doing it. They’d just get booked through agents. It just happened that these agents were working with groups who probably paid for personality profiles of the lamest comedians who could benefit their cause if they were actually popular.
Super disappointed in Burr.
Unsubscribed.
There’s really no defense that is morally good in my opinion . F these people. At least they self identify as amoral assholes.
Yet as a country they buy their oil and supply them weapons, but this is a bridge too far I suppose.
Argh I’m so upset by this betrayal I’m going to type something on the internets.
That’ll solve it.
US imports of Saudi oil have not been significant for awhile now, North American oil production has increased massively over the past several decades. The US has actually been energy independent and a net exporter for around 5 years or so I think.
I don’t think many Americans are happy about the US relationship with Saudi Arabia but it doesn’t get shoved in their faces often so when comedians act like this it becomes an avenue for that anger to be expressed. Many Americans have parasocial relationships with comedians, and/or have this idea that they are “fearless truth-tellers”, so it hits a lot different compared to abstract foreign policy and people get a lot more easily riled up about it.
What’s with people in here expecting comedians to be moral paragons? Especially Bill Burr. Dude’s whole claim to fame is being a piece of shit.
You don’t need to be a moral paragon to recognize that taking money from the fucking bone saw guy to whitewash his shitty dictatorship is bad and will piss off your audience. Where is the line for you? If you think Burr is excused for this because his claim to fame is being a piece of shit, could he do anything you actually find unacceptable?
It’s not that black and white. Initially, the government wanted to closely police everything that was said. But they softened their stance after some back and forth. So Saudis who attended the shows were exposed to some mildly sacrilegious stuff. Religious fundamentals could frankly use a lot more of that in this world, and hopefully they will be less crazy as a result.
idk, i’m just getting tired of this hyper-fixation on holding performers to some lofty standard. He did something that isn’t remotely enough to land him in prison, so I’m going to not care at all and keep enjoying his comedy. Seems fairly reasonable to me.
Inb4 they whine in their next comedy specials that they’re ‘being cancel cultured again by Gen Z’ and this time its ‘just for working’.
Cue laughs from conservatives.
Likewise we’re not paid enough to be their audience. Grifters, kindly fuck off the stage.
Nice for these people to be so open about their shittiness, it removes the benefit of the doubt and makes it easier to weed them out
‘They’re paying me enough to look the other way’
That is at least an honest approach instead of “We’ll change things over there with our comedy”.
Just stfu next time it’s about politics (hint: they won’t).
The only guy that is surprising for me is Bill Burr. Not exactly financially hanging on by a thread but still selling out like that.
Same, very surprised by Bill Burr and that it wasn’t a bit for him to tell the Saudis some hard truths either.
Instead, he gives us a weak-ass “they are the same as us” response because they have the same crappy fast-food…
It’s always about the money for these pricks.
Don’t fool yourselves into thinking entertainers are your friends. They’re not.
Mr. Rogers weeps.
The Grift must go on!
Literal blood money bruh
Don’t make celebrity performers your idols, folks. They’re mostly psychologically damaged, amoral, backstabbing, money grubbing narcissists.
Especially comedians… it’s a defense mechanism.
I don’t disagree with you, but this is isn’t exactly “idol” level expectations, either. “Not selling out to horrific regimes” is basic decency I’d expect of everyone, not just those I look up to. Most of the names I see here make sense, but there are a few I expected to be better than this.
People: Billionaires are the problem
Also people: OMG Taylor Swift’s new album just dropped! Let’s go buy 3 different versions of it
You don’t get it, she’s a good billionaire because she’s a girl and owns her music. Who cares that she takes a private jet flight for what could be an hour long drive - she could never fly economy due her popularity!
Comedians are probably the most disingenuous ones too, as idols. thier job is to Joke, and you know personally they are either what they joke about(they become the jokes themselves this default for right winger comedians they become thier own jokes, or doing the opposite of what they are joking.
Marc Maron is the person who people think the lot of these guys like Burr are. His comedy/commentary is earnest. He has conviction. People like Burr are performative commentary. They go back to the dressing room to wash off the clown makeup so they can go back to being their private self. They don’t give a shit about the things the say into the mic.
Burr is pretty genuine, and he’s come a long way in the past 5-10 years (largely due to his awesome wife). However, he’s still a “both sides” liberal when it comes down to it.
Maron is the real deal.
