Maher was among many critics of The Chappelle Show star and other comics, including Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari, Jimmy Carr and Louis C.K., who performed at the festival, pointing to the country’s lack of free speech, record of human rights abuses and role in 9/11.
On the Oct. 3 episode of his HBO gabfest, Real Time, Maher, 69, told his guest C.K.: “Dave Chappelle … was in the press today saying that you can speak more freely over [there] than in America. It is not true.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” C.K. responded.
Maher replied: “Oh, it’s not true,” and then challenged Chappelle to tell a joke about the Islamic prophet Muhammad to find out how free the speech in Saudi Arabia really is.
Chappelle, 52, fired back at Maher’s condemnation in a profanity-laced tirade on his new Netflix stand-up special.