{"id":198522,"date":"2025-10-03T02:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T02:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198522\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T02:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T02:05:09","slug":"dave-chappelle-criticizes-free-speech-at-saudi-arabia-comedy-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198522\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Chappelle Criticizes Free Speech at Saudi Arabia Comedy Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDave Chappelle<\/a> criticized the status of free speech in the United States while on stage at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe comedian was one of more than 50 performers participating in the event, which has come under fire<\/a> for being held in a country which has been accused of human rights violations<\/a> and an oppressive regime.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRight now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you\u2019ll get canceled,\u201d Chappelle told an audience of 6,000, according to The New York Times<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true, but I\u2019m gonna find out.\u201d He then added, \u201cIt\u2019s easier to talk here than it is in America.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tChappelle later noted he feared returning to the United States because \u201cthey\u2019re going to do something to me so that I can\u2019t say what I want to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne local audience member \u2014 referencing ABC\u2019s brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! \u2014 reportedly marveled that it was \u201csurprising to hear [Chappelle] talk about [Charlie Kirk] in Riyadh, when just recently America canceled Jimmy Kimmel doing the same.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tGiven Chappelle is, obviously, a comedian, anything he says on stage can arguably fall under the rubric of, \u201cwell, he was just kidding.\u201d But his comments are, at the very least, rather ironic. In Saudi Arabia, media outlets are licensed by the government and there is a long list of prohibited speech \u2014 from anything that inflames public opinion against the state, to promoting any non-Islamic religious expression<\/a> or speech that supports activist causes. (For instance: In 2022, student Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison<\/a> for retweeting women\u2019s rights activists on X; she was later given a reduced sentence amid global outcry). <\/p>\n

\n\tEven the comedy festival had purported speech restrictions, with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka posting a list of deal terms<\/a> for appearing at the event which included forbidding any criticism of religion or the Saudi royals. <\/p>\n

\n\tOne comedian, Tim Dillon, says he was disinvited to attend the event for an unearthed joke that he previously made about Saudi Arabia \u2014 which arguably sends the message that if you wish to be invited to the Riyadh Comedy Festival in the future, you better not make jokes about the country even when you\u2019re back home.<\/p>\n

\n\tA representative for Chappelle had no immediate comment. <\/p>\n

\n\tComics attending the Riyadh Comedy Festival have come under fire by some for \u201ccomedy washing\u201d the Saudi regime in return for big payouts (Dillon says he was offered $375,000, which gives a sense of the potential baseline).<\/p>\n

\n\tComedian Bill Burr, after performing at the show\u2019s opening night on Friday, defended the project on his podcast<\/a>, suggesting that the cultural exchange could have unexpected benefits. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was great to experience that part of the world and to be a part of the first comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia,\u201d\u00a0Burr <\/a>said. \u201cThe royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that I\u2019ve been talking to are saying, \u2018Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see real stand-up comedy.\u2019 It was a mind-blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences I\u2019ve had. I think it\u2019s going to lead to a lot of positive things.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Chappelle criticized the status of free speech in the United States while on stage at the Riyadh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[112026,88,2091,131],"class_list":{"0":"post-198522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dave-chappelle","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-international","11":"tag-saudi-arabia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198522","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=198522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}