{"id":183172,"date":"2025-09-26T14:51:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/183172\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T14:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:51:06","slug":"marc-maron-and-human-rights-watch-slam-riyadh-comedy-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/183172\/","title":{"rendered":"Marc Maron and Human Rights Watch Slam Riyadh Comedy Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSaudi Arabia<\/a>\u2019s upcoming Riyadh Comedy Festival<\/a> is drawing controversy with several U.S. comedians blasting the star-studded event and Human Rights Watch asking participating artists to \u201crequest a meeting about Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights crisis,\u201d the org. said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe seventh anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi\u2019s brutal murder is no laughing matter, and comedians receiving hefty sums from Saudi authorities shouldn\u2019t be silent on prohibited topics in Saudi like human rights or free speech,\u201d said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cEveryone performing in Riyadh should use this high-profile opportunity to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Marc Maron<\/a> on his WTF\u00a0podcast recently blasted fellow U.S. comedians for participating in the Sept. 26-Oct. 9 event in Riyadh and spoke about Saudi officials\u2019 alleged roles in 9\/11 and the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI mean, how do you even promote that? \u2018From the folks that brought you 9\/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don\u2019t miss it!\u2019\u201d he said in a video. \u201cI mean, the same guy that\u2019s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fucking suitcase. But don\u2019t let that stop the yucks, it\u2019s gonna be a good time!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHuman Rights Watch noted that U.S. stand-up comedian and podcaster Tim Dillon on his August 30 podcast said: \u201cI am doing this because they are paying me a large sum of money.\u201d Dillon on the podcast said the Saudi festival was paying him $375,000 for the one show on Oct. 8 and that other performers were offered as much as $1.6 million. \u201cThey bought comedy,\u201d Dillon added. \u201cDo I have issues with the policies towards freedom of speech? Of course I do, but I believe in my own financial well-being,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tInterestingly, as Human Rights Watch reported,on Sept. 20, Dillon announced that his performance had been canceled after Saudi authorities were allegedly \u201cunhappy\u201d about his comedic remarks on the treatment of migrant workers and other human rights issues. \u201cI addressed it in a funny way and they fired me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother U.S. comedian, Shane Gillis<\/a>,\u00a0said on his Secret Podcast\u00a0that he turned down a \u201csignificant bag\u201d for an appearance at the festival, even after they doubled their offer. \u201cI took a principled stand. You don\u2019t 9\/11 your friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHuman Rights Watch pointed out that Jimmy Carr, who is co-headlining the festival on Oct. 6, does not list his appearance in Saudi Arabia on his website or on his social media. <\/p>\n

\n\tOther U.S. comedy stars reportedly set to appear at the Riyadh Comedy Festival include Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Russell Peters, Gabriel Iglesias, Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s upcoming Riyadh Comedy Festival is drawing controversy with several U.S. comedians blasting the star-studded event and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,16238,108029,131,14532],"class_list":{"0":"post-183172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-marc-maron","10":"tag-riyadh-comedy-festival","11":"tag-saudi-arabia","12":"tag-shane-gillis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}