Human Rights Watch rejects donations from comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival
Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that it would not accept donations from comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.
The human rights organization told Variety it “cannot accept” donations from comedians like Aziz Ansari and others who have performed.
“Although we cannot accept this, it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists,” Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Variety.
“Human Rights Watch did not call on comedians to boycott the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but simply asked them to express their support for freedom of expression by urging the release of unjustly imprisoned Saudi activists,” Shea said.
Hill has contacted Human Rights Watch for comment.
Shea drew attention to the Saudi government’s sponsorship of the comedy festival. Last month, Shea also spoke to Variety about the country’s human rights record and pointed to the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
“Comedians who receive huge sums of money from Saudi authorities should not remain silent about topics banned in Saudi Arabia such as human rights or freedom of expression,” Shea said in September. “Everyone performing in Riyadh should seize this high-profile opportunity to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.”
Kimmel said Ansari faced opposition from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, when Ansari was reminded that Saudi Arabia is a “very brutal regime.”
“They did a lot of terrible, terrible things,” he continued.
He said that Al-Ansari “thought a lot” about going. The comedian said he hopes going will “advance the conversation.”
“You kind of have to choose whether you’re going to isolate yourself or get involved,” Ansari said. “For me, especially being who I am and looking the way I act and being from a Muslim background, I felt like it was something I should be a part of.”
The Riyadh Comedy Festival included a large number of comedians alongside Al Ansari, such as Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, Hannibal Buress, Pete Davidson, Joe Coy, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Ross, and others. The festival began on September 26 and ended on Thursday.
A number of comedians, including Marc Maron and Shane Gillies, spoke out against the performance.
