I’m a big UFC fan so Saudi Arabia being involved in my media is nothing new. That said, it seems fairly hypocritical for alot of the outspoken comics to participate. Opinions?
I have an opinion about Bill Burr in particular. I was a faithful listener of his podcast for many years but I stopped a couple months ago because it was getting extremely repetitive. Every episode, he would go on the same rant about how billionaires are the source of most of America’s problems - which is something I wholeheartedly agree with, but I listened to his podcast for a brief comedic escape from the world, not for the same political discussions that pop up everywhere else.
So when I heard he accepted a direct payment of a huge sum of money from the very people he’s constantly argued are the #1 enemies, I felt surprised and betrayed. I just don’t believe he’s in a position to take the “soft power” stance when he’s receiving money from the very royal family that’s the cause of so many human rights issues in that country. Not gonna be supporting any of his work anymore.
Agree completely
I think any comedian who takes part loses all rights to ever complain about freedom of speech, or cancel culture, or whatever. Since they likely won’t have been kidnapped and murdered by bone saw.
I tend to agree with this stance. Particularly hypocritical of one of my top 5 favorites Bill Burr.
Money counting machine go Burrrrr.
It, unfortunately, does go burrrrr
yes, very. Louis CK tried to make a nuanced argument about how even people suffering should be given art, and by being there he was demonstrating that this kind of world exists. sounds reasonable until you realize that he is doing all of that in service of fascists. he is not performing for “the people.” he is not providing art or creativity to the group that stands to benefit from it the most, he is giving it to those who already own everything. this wasn’t organized by some sort of grassroots campaign of Saudi Arabian comedians; this was for royalty. he was entertaining leaders of one of the most oppressive countries in the world, allowing them to delude him with propaganda, and was shielded from the everyday life of the real people they subjugate, enslave, and kill. fuck him.
Louis CK has stopped being funny for quite a long while.
I’m starting to get it now, entertainment acts and sports vendors go to Saudi when they’re on their last legs of relevance. It’s where they’ve spent their last remnant of dignity for themselves, so they go blow it trying to appease some fascist dictator of an oppressive country. Like way to go /s
I’m just sick of the Saudis forcing their way into everything just because they have lots of money and oil reserves to do it with.
They’ve recently acquired EA. They have a WrestleMania being hosted in their capital. They’re having the 2027 Olympics hosted there. And now this.
It’s like we’re all catering to this idea to humanize a country that has a history of religious extremism, extreme misogyny and absolute corruption. It won’t change a thing.
Fuck anything and everything related to the Saudis, the deranged psychopaths who, for starters, assassinated Jamal Khashoggi and dismembered his corpse.
Fuck every single one of those comedians.
I think it’s really difficult to completely avoid any sort of financial ties with companies or countries that are human rights abusers. I think we need to extend a lot of grace to people who try to continuously improve.
But when it’s widely known beforehand what accepting a paycheck to perform for a country like this means, but they decide to accept that big paycheck anyway, I think they deserve all the social backlash they get.
If some performer said that about my country, “no thanks, I won’t perform in the US , whose government is helping fund genocides”, then I would cheer for them for standing on their principles. I wish we saw more of that.
I agree with everything you’ve said.
I think as an American I already participate in the dark evil side of humanity.
Just by being alive in the country ?
Not really. So much shit going on its hard to care about it.
Chasing a buck is not a crime. If your government places specific sanctions to represent disapproval of a country then it can be. Ultimately there are people that care enough to remember these comedians transgressions and remind the world as appropriate. Chase a buck if you want but every action someone takes can have unforseen consequences. Time will tell.
I can’t help but feel like a lot of the controversy is fueled by Islamaphobia. Like, would anyone be caring if these comics were going to a Budapest comedy festival? Hell, the United States is currently killing citizens, but I’ve not seen any pushback regarding any American comedy festivals. It just seems strange that the autocratic nation critics seem to have the most issues with happens to be Middle-Eastern.
Personally, I’m in the same boat as you. Saudia Arabia has already stepped in to help prop up too much of the media my parents help produce, and it’d be hypocritical of me to claim that this festival is a bridge too far.
Are American comedy festivals usually sponsored directly by the government? Or are they typically independent? Because this one is directly sponsored by an authoritarian government. 0 difference between the people funding the event and the people who murder journalists.
That’s a fair difference, but do you think the controversy wouldn’t exist if there was the same degree of separation? I’m pretty sure people would take umbrage with the comedians at the festival as long as it was hosted in Saudia Arabia, irregardless of who ultimately pays for it.
I genuinely don’t think the controversy would be to the same level, however, with how that government is ran there is no other way an event like this would happen.
If a cabal of random billionaires hosted the festival, yes people would still be upset. I think people are significantly more upset that its being hosted by the leadership.
It has nothing to do with religion for me personally. Its about the reported slave labor, journalist killings, lack of rights for women and the countries connection to 9/11. Saying the US is killing people doesn’t help or clarify anything. It’s disingenuous and attempts to dismiss a legitimate criticism. Also, like I said, I’m genuinely not “above” consuming media from a country I think is bad. I haven’t missed a UFC event in more than a decade. That company does shitty things but they don’t really lie about them. The comedians I’m concerned with have made their careers (in some cases) talking about completely antithetical ideas/topics to Saudia Arabian media, culture and journalism.
if you don’t see the difference between Saudi Arabia and all the countries you named then you are simply ignorant. it isn’t the same, not even close. this has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with human abuses.
I find it funny when Westerners suddenly pretend to care about human rights when bougies visit a Western client state but crickets will chirp when they visit literal settler-colonies like the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or when they visit countries that continue to have colonies today like Denmark, France, the U.K., or when they visit countries that gave birth or provided/continue to provide human capital to the Euroanglo-Zionazi Entity like… basically the entirety of the Global North.
So, what, Ideally, should happen to “settler-colonies” like the US, Australia and New Zeland. Because human rights violations happen in one place doesnt excuse them happening in another. They can all be bad…
Landback is part of the fine variety of solutions that can be effectuated. Also, is there any doubt that the US, Australia and New Zealand are settler-colonies that it prompts enclosing with quotation marks? Could you expand on that?
And sure, yeah human rights violations happening in one place or the other is “all bad”, then pray tell, why is it that the manufactured outrage is reserved specifically for WANA countries, but not for the imperial West that don’t exactly have a great track record on human rights, even worse than WANA combined?
Can you expand on land back, in the context of the contiguous united states? I placed the quotations becausethese countries used to be settler colonies, yes. They are now, however, racially/ethnically/socioeconomically diverse sovereign nations with democratic republic systems of government, not colonies. Every single country in the history of earth has a track record with human rights abuses and horrific social practices. I’d argue that CURRENTLY Saudia Arabia is a particularly clear example of practiced modern day slavery, radical abuses of women/lgbtq+ people, state sponsored murder of journalists, state sponsored murder based on speech and operates under a completely antiquated form of government in the form of a monarchy. Said monarchy is the body that paid for this show to happen. Track records are one thing, CURRENT conditions are another entirely.
