Controversy Surrounds Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia: Here's Why

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A comedy festival in Saudi Arabia has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and the international community for allegedly covering up the country’s human rights issues.

The Riyadh Comedy Festival, which began on 26 September and is set to end on 9 October, showcases prominent international comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr, Jimmy Carr, Louis CK, and Jack Whitehall.

However, both the comedians performing and the festival itself have faced significant backlash recently due to Saudi Arabia’s history of alleged human rights abuses, including the suppression of free speech, executions of political dissidents, and gender-based discrimination.

International human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have spoken out against the festival and the involvement of international talent.

Kyinzom Dhongdue, strategy and advocacy manager at Amnesty International Australia, told SBS News Saudi Arabia is using the Riyadh Comedy Festival to “distract the world from its brutal human rights record” and the involvement of major comedians from the United States and the United Kingdom is “disappointing”.

“We cannot ignore that this festival coincides with the seventh anniversary of the state-sanctioned murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and it takes place mere months after the Saudi government executed a journalist,” Dhongdue stated.

Khashoggi, a US-based dissident journalist, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 by a team of Saudi agents, an operation which US intelligence believed was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

As per a declassified US intelligence report released in 2021, Salman was involved in the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, contradicting Saudi officials’ claims that he was uninvolved.

Members of the comedy community have also spoken out against their peers’ involvement in the festival, including those who declined the invitation.

Marc Maron, comedian and host of the WTF podcast, said in a video posted to Instagram that he was not asked to perform at the comedy festival but commented on the source of payment for the comedians involved, referencing the assassination of Khashoggi and the crown prince’s suspected involvement in his murder.

Atsuko Okatsuka, a US comedian, posted to Threads over the weekend, stating she had turned down an offer and published what she said were the restrictions outlined in the contract.

Reportedly, the restrictions required comedians to avoid “performing any material that could degrade, defame, or bring public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule” upon Saudi Arabia, its leaders, public figures, culture, people, royal family, legal system, government, or any religion or religious practices.

US comedian Tim Dillon, who initially claimed the festival paid him US$375,000 ($569,000) to perform, an amount he deemed sufficient to “overlook” issues, later noted he was removed from the lineup due to prior jokes about Saudi Arabia’s suspected use of forced labor.

Human rights abuses

There have been long-held international concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia, where Amnesty International says “human rights are ignored, their freedoms are restricted and punishment is severe”.

Dhongdue said Saudi Arabia has one of the “most regressive environments for free speech in the world” and peaceful critics of the government, journalists and women activists are “routinely silenced, whether through arbitrary detention, torture, unfair trials and even execution”.

Human Rights Watch says executions have surged in Saudi Arabia this year, with Saudi authorities executing at least 241 people in 2025 as of 5 August, including a journalist and a political analyst.

Turki al-Jassar, a journalist for an independent outlet known for uncovering alleged corruption within the Saudi royal family, was executed in June following his arrest in 2018 and reported torture in al-Ha’ir prison.

In August, women’s rights activist and fitness influencer Manahel al-Otaibi was resentenced to five years’ imprisonment after initially being sentenced in 2024 to 11 years in prison for “terrorist offences” in a secret trial, according to Amnesty International.

Dhongdue said she was sentenced “simply because of her choice of clothing and her support for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia”.

Why is Saudi Arabia holding a comedy festival?

Dhongdue said the comedy festival is directly tied to Vision 2030, the crown prince’s blueprint for the economic transformation of Saudi Arabia, which states the country is now investing heavily in sectors like tourism and entertainment.

Sports events, music and comedy have all been key investment focuses for Vision 2030, and Dhongdue said the Saudi government is spending “billions” to improve its international image.

Human Rights Watch said the investment in Saudi Arabia’s entertainment industry, alongside some social and economic advances for women and young people, has distracted from the alleged violations committed in the Middle Eastern nation.

Joey Shea, a researcher from Human Rights Watch, said Saudi Arabia has encouraged comedians performing at the festival to “speak out against Saudi Arabia’s serious human rights abuses” or risk “bolstering the Saudi government’s well-funded efforts to launder its image”.

Dhondue said the comedians should now either use the stage in Saudi Arabia or platforms afterwards to raise awareness about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

“They are getting paid by this regime, so it’s their responsibility to speak out and call for the release of the human rights activists and defenders.”