American Comedians Perform at Saudi Arabia Festival Despite Content Rules

If an American stand-up comedian agrees to perform in the quasi-authoritarian country of Saudi Arabia for boatloads of money, is he selling out free speech? Sebastian Maniscalco, Pete Davidson, Andrew Schulz, Bill Burr, and Dave Chappelle are popular comics who are participating this week in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, a Saudi-sponsored event, for allegedly big checks.

It should go without saying that Saudi Arabia is not a free country. Our relationship is complex. We’ve done economic and defense agreements with the Saudis, imported oil from them, and even entertained inviting them into the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and Arab states. But given the Saudis’ horrific record of human rights abuses and crackdowns on speech, it should strike the signed comedians as at least ironic that the government now wants to explore, superficially, an art form that is supposed to smash sacred cows.

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Caroline Downey

Caroline Downey is a staff writer for National Review.

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If an American stand-up comedian agrees to perform in the quasi-authoritarian country of Saudi Arabia for boatloads of money, is he selling out free speech? Sebastian Maniscalco, Pete Davidson, Andrew Schulz, Bill Burr, and Dave Chappelle are popular comics who are participating this week in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, a Saudi-sponsored event, for allegedly big checks.

It should go without saying that Saudi Arabia is not a free country. Our relationship is complex. We’ve done economic and defense agreements with the Saudis, imported oil from them, and even entertained inviting them into the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and Arab states. But given the Saudis’ horrific record of human rights abuses and crackdowns on speech, it should strike the signed comedians as at least ironic that the government now wants to explore, superficially, an art form that is supposed to smash sacred cows.