The Washington Post editorial board on Tuesday shredded the stand-up comedians who worked at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, calling it a "bad joke" that they took money from a repressive regime.
In its latest editorial, the board rebuked the roughly 50 comics — including Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings and Bill Burr — who accepted lucrative paychecks from a nation long criticized for censorship and human rights abuses.
"Fifty comedians walk into a repressive Gulf kingdom. That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. But there is little funny about some of the best-known Western comics trekking to Saudi Arabia, collecting large paychecks and agreeing to censor themselves at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which runs through Thursday," the board wrote.
The Washington Post editorial board on Tuesday called out the top comedians performing at the ongoing Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. (Fayez Nureldine/Getty)
The board criticized Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for hosting the festival, claiming it’s "just the latest in a string of attempts to divert attention from his country’s atrocious human rights record by hosting showy international events."
The Post reminded readers of the Saudi government’s killing of journalists, including one of its own contributors.
"The comedy festival’s timing was particularly cruel, as it overlapped with the seventh anniversary of the murder and dismemberment of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018," the board wrote.
JIMMY KIMMEL'S LATE-NIGHT EVOLUTION FROM APOLITICAL FUNNYMAN TO DEM ACTIVIST
Saudi Arabian flag in front of a fresco, Asir province, Abha, Saudi Arabia. (Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)
The board accused performers of picking a "payday over principles." It suggested that the comics were hypocritical for agreeing to the festival’s restrictions on content, while using their sets to mock American cancel culture.
"Before the comedy festival, the invited performers were forbidden in their contracts from poking any fun at the Saudi royal family, Islam or the regime. Several people turned down the money. But some who did perform… focused on what they saw as safer topics for that audience: cancel culture in the United States," the editorial stated.
The board continued: "It’s distasteful enough to criticize America’s free-speech challenges while being lavishly paid by a regime that forces comedians to sign contracts pledging to avoid sensitive topics. It’s grotesquely hypocritical when exercising free expression, even satire, in Saudi Arabia can result in being not canceled but literally decapitated."
Comedian David Cross called out fellow comedians for participating in a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia over the next few weeks. (CBS/Getty)
Comedian David Cross expressed his disdain for the choice to perform there in a press release shared last week.
"I am disgusted and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing. That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for … what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?" he asked.
Some of the performers have defended participating in Riyadh. During a recent episode of his "Monday Morning Podcast," Burr called it a "mind-blowing experience" and accused people of spreading lies about the event.