According to Dave Chappelle it’s easier to be an American comedian in Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday, September 27, the 52-year-old comedian performed during the Riyadh Comedy Festival in the Saudi capital, where he weighed in on the state of comedy back home.
“Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled,” Chappelle said per The New York Times. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m gonna find out.”
He added, “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.”
Chappelle was referencing the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and the uproar when late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended from ABC for mocking the Republican response to Kirk on air.
The remarks sparked swift backlash in the U.S. For many, the irony was glaring: Chappelle has faced virtually no interference performing material that critics call transphobic and alienating. His Netflix specials have provoked protests and walkouts, but they’ve also ranked among the platform’s most popular offerings. He continues to sell out arenas and sign multimillion-dollar deals.
What made his comments even more jarring was where he said them. In Saudi Arabia, the government licenses all media, still restricts women’s rights, and criminalizes criticism of Islam. Activists, journalists, and dissidents risk imprisonment—or worse—for speaking out. To stand on a stage in Riyadh and call it “easier” than performing in America struck many as tone-deaf, if not willfully blind.
The festival itself has been controversial from the start. Running from Friday, September 26 to Tuesday, October 9, the Riyadh Comedy Festival is part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 push to rebrand itself as a global entertainment and tourism hub. Human rights groups, however, have slammed the event as “comedianwashing”—a bid to whitewash Saudi Arabia’s repressive image through marquee talent.
While many comedians declined to participate, the lineup is still stacked with high-profile Black comedians, including Kevin Hart, Chris Tucker, Wayne Brady, and Hannibal Buress, who have joined names like Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari, Whitney Cummings, and dozens more.
