I’m a big UFC fan so Saudi Arabia being involved in my media is nothing new. That said, it seems fairly hypocritical for alot of the outspoken comics to participate. Opinions?
yes, very. Louis CK tried to make a nuanced argument about how even people suffering should be given art, and by being there he was demonstrating that this kind of world exists. sounds reasonable until you realize that he is doing all of that in service of fascists. he is not performing for “the people.” he is not providing art or creativity to the group that stands to benefit from it the most, he is giving it to those who already own everything. this wasn’t organized by some sort of grassroots campaign of Saudi Arabian comedians; this was for royalty. he was entertaining leaders of one of the most oppressive countries in the world, allowing them to delude him with propaganda, and was shielded from the everyday life of the real people they subjugate, enslave, and kill. fuck him.
Fuck anything and everything related to the Saudis, the deranged psychopaths who, for starters, assassinated Jamal Khashoggi and dismembered his corpse.
Fuck every single one of those comedians.
I think it’s really difficult to completely avoid any sort of financial ties with companies or countries that are human rights abusers. I think we need to extend a lot of grace to people who try to continuously improve.
But when it’s widely known beforehand what accepting a paycheck to perform for a country like this means, but they decide to accept that big paycheck anyway, I think they deserve all the social backlash they get.
If some performer said that about my country, “no thanks, I won’t perform in the US , whose government is helping fund genocides”, then I would cheer for them for standing on their principles. I wish we saw more of that.
I agree with everything you’ve said.
I think any comedian who takes part loses all rights to ever complain about freedom of speech, or cancel culture, or whatever. Since they likely won’t have been kidnapped and murdered by bone saw.
I tend to agree with this stance. Particularly hypocritical of one of my top 5 favorites Bill Burr.
Money counting machine go Burrrrr.
It, unfortunately, does go burrrrr
Chasing a buck is not a crime. If your government places specific sanctions to represent disapproval of a country then it can be. Ultimately there are people that care enough to remember these comedians transgressions and remind the world as appropriate. Chase a buck if you want but every action someone takes can have unforseen consequences. Time will tell.
Not really. So much shit going on its hard to care about it.
I think as an American I already participate in the dark evil side of humanity.
Just by being alive in the country ?
I can’t help but feel like a lot of the controversy is fueled by Islamaphobia. Like, would anyone be caring if these comics were going to a Budapest comedy festival? Hell, the United States is currently killing citizens, but I’ve not seen any pushback regarding any American comedy festivals. It just seems strange that the autocratic nation critics seem to have the most issues with happens to be Middle-Eastern.
Personally, I’m in the same boat as you. Saudia Arabia has already stepped in to help prop up too much of the media my parents help produce, and it’d be hypocritical of me to claim that this festival is a bridge too far.
if you don’t see the difference between Saudi Arabia and all the countries you named then you are simply ignorant. it isn’t the same, not even close. this has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with human abuses.
Are American comedy festivals usually sponsored directly by the government? Or are they typically independent? Because this one is directly sponsored by an authoritarian government. 0 difference between the people funding the event and the people who murder journalists.
That’s a fair difference, but do you think the controversy wouldn’t exist if there was the same degree of separation? I’m pretty sure people would take umbrage with the comedians at the festival as long as it was hosted in Saudia Arabia, irregardless of who ultimately pays for it.
I genuinely don’t think the controversy would be to the same level, however, with how that government is ran there is no other way an event like this would happen.
If a cabal of random billionaires hosted the festival, yes people would still be upset. I think people are significantly more upset that its being hosted by the leadership.
It has nothing to do with religion for me personally. Its about the reported slave labor, journalist killings, lack of rights for women and the countries connection to 9/11. Saying the US is killing people doesn’t help or clarify anything. It’s disingenuous and attempts to dismiss a legitimate criticism. Also, like I said, I’m genuinely not “above” consuming media from a country I think is bad. I haven’t missed a UFC event in more than a decade. That company does shitty things but they don’t really lie about them. The comedians I’m concerned with have made their careers (in some cases) talking about completely antithetical ideas/topics to Saudia Arabian media, culture and journalism.
I find it funny when Westerners suddenly pretend to care about human rights when bougies visit a Western client state but crickets will chirp when they visit literal settler-colonies like the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or when they visit countries that continue to have colonies today like Denmark, France, the U.K., or when they visit countries that gave birth or provided/continue to provide human capital to the Euroanglo-Zionazi Entity like… basically the entirety of the Global North.
So, what, Ideally, should happen to “settler-colonies” like the US, Australia and New Zeland. Because human rights violations happen in one place doesnt excuse them happening in another. They can all be bad…
