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Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Some United States comedians have criticized others for agreeing to take large sums of money to participate in the upcoming Riyadh Comedy Festival, the first of which takes place from September 26 to October 9, 2005, as well as around the anniversary of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi embassy in the United States has declined to comment on the matter. The festival is part of an attempt to improve the country’s image.
Among the comedians who were not invited to the festival, David Cross and Marc Maron specifically have both been outspoken in their criticisms. Cross stated “all of your bitching about ‘cancel culture’ and ‘freedom of speech’ and all that shit? Done. You don’t get to talk about it ever again,” adding, “we can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about”.
Shane Gillis, Atsuko Okatsuka, Mike Birbiglia, and Leslie Liao, have all declined to participate in the festival due to these issues. Okatsuka posted the original offer she received to her twitter feed, criticizing it, stating that it included a clause forbidding “any material that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule” regarding the Saudi government. She went on, “A lot of the ‘you can’t say anything anymore!’ comedians are doing the festival…they had to adhere to censorship rules about the types of jokes they can make.” Namish Patel at first accepted but then decided to back out of the commitment.
Pete Davidson, Mark Normand and Chris Distefano have all defended their choices to participate. Davidson commented, “They’re paying me enough money to look the other way.” Tim Dillon had originally accepted but was removed from the festival after comments he made about the festival, though it is not known whether there is a connection.
