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Dave Chappelle: There’s More Free Speech in Saudi Arabia Than America

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Because you can bash Charlie Kirk in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is having a comedy festival. That’s a joke in and of itself. But you’re not allowed to make it in Saudi Arabia. Or most jokes really.

A comedy festival, unlike the races or wrestling matches the Saudis host, involves a certain amount of free speech. Any comedian going off to perform in Saudi Arabia obviously isn’t especially into free speech.

So the Saudi comedy lineup is revealing and it shows what some comics who used to stand for free speech have turned into.

Dave Chappelle criticized the status of free speech in the United States while on stage at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.

“Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled,” Chappelle told an audience of 6,000, according to The New York Times. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m gonna find out.” He then added, “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.”

You can bash Charlie Kirk in Saudi Arabia. Now go ahead and mention Islam.

Obviously not an issue for Chapelle who’s a Muslim. That may be another reason he’s so comfortable in Saudi Arabia.

Bash Charlie Kirk and maybe ABC will briefly suspend your late night show. Mention the wrong thing in Saudi Arabia and parts of you will be in different bags.

Chapelle’s argument though harkens back to an actual joke that, unlike his set, is funny.

“Two men, an American and a Russian were arguing. One said, in my country I can go to the white house walk to the president’s office and pound the desk and say “Mr. President! I don’t like how you’re running things in this country!”

The Russian said “I can do that too!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I can go to the Kremlin, walk into the general secretary’s office and pound the desk and say, Mr. Secretary, I don’t like how Reagan is running his country!”

Comments

  1. Someone should suggest to Dave Chappelle (who I always found overrated, and didn’t really notice when sections of “the Right” were celebrating him for doing his anti-🏳️‍⚧️ jokes) to try doing a skit on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. I doubt that he’ll be lynched like Jamal Khashoggi was, but I do think he’ll be on the next flight out of Riyadh to the US – wherever they send him

    I think what the Saudis are looking for is all comedy that doesn’t touch them. I had no idea Chappelle is a muslim. That said, other comedians trying skits in Saudi Arabia can try jokes about other muslim leaders, like Erdogan, Khamenei, al Thani, Sharief (Pakistan) or Mohammed Yunus, and see whether or not their hosts wince, or revel in the jokes. Just don’t do it about the Saudis or their vassals – the Emiratis, Bahreinis, Egyptians and Jordanians

  2. I actually saw a Korean comic online performing in Saudi. His own heritage included some Saudi blood in there and he was very funny, I was relieved to find they have a sense of humour.

    That said, how easy it is to buy American performers. Or just performers.Of all kinds.

    • Not difficult since

      ⮞ Money is no object in these Gulf sheikhdoms. Actually, Qatar, of all places, has a per-capita income more than twice that of any other GCC country, which is why they can bankroll anything from Air Force One to jihad. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Emirates have been busy using their money for development projects, while Qatar is still in the geopolitical game
      ⮞ Wonder how many Americans or Europeans can afford to watch performers live? Particularly when they can save that money and watch it – albeit days later – on social media

      I hope your Korean comic was sensible enough to not include islam or the Sauds in any of his jokes. For his sake, not theirs!

  3. Dave Chappelle: There’s More Free Speech in Saudi Arabia Than America
    ……………………………………….

    Would this idiot be brave enough to joke about Saudi Arabia–or *about Islam*? And yes–I was thinking of just that classic Russian joke.

    Here’s a short list of people arrested and imprisoned for speech in Saudi Arabia:

    Manahel al-Otaibi: In 2024, the women’s rights activist and fitness instructor was sentenced to 11 years in prison by the SCC for “terrorist offenses”. The charges related to her online activism supporting women’s rights and posting pictures without an abaya.

    Salma al-Shehab: The PhD student and mother of two was arrested in 2021 while on vacation in Saudi Arabia. She was initially sentenced to 34 years in prison for her social media activity supporting women’s rights, which was later reduced to 27 years.

    Saad Ibrahim Almadi: The 72-year-old American citizen was arrested in 2021 while visiting family in Saudi Arabia over critical tweets he posted while in the United States. He was initially sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released in 2023.

    Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi: The retired schoolteacher was sentenced to death in 2023 for criticizing the Saudi authorities on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). The sentence was later commuted, but he still faces a 30-year prison sentence.

    Abdulrahman al-Sadhan: An aid worker who was detained in 2018 for satirical tweets. In 2020, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by a 20-year travel ban.

    Waleed Abu al-Khair: A human rights lawyer who received a 15-year prison sentence for his peaceful advocacy.

    Raif Badawi: The blogger and co-founder of the website “Free Saudi Liberals” was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam”. He was released in 2022 but is subject to a travel ban.

    There is more.

    Is Dave Chappelle good with all this?

    • Good questions; very nice list. Maybe he can prove himself by answering them in his act. Add any speech that openly professes Christianity. If the supposed reformer prince has actually reformed that policy, I’ve yet to hear about it.
      Any black man who becomes a muslim, given islam’s mandated racism, must be good with all sorts of things. And I’m always happy to see anyone note that Dave’s a muslim, because I think his act should be viewed by a public that comprehends that.

    • Good list. One thing I noticed: all of these people are ethnic Saudis, even if some may be naturalized to be American citizens. They don’t really care about citizenship, although in Saad Ibrahim Almadi’s case, they released him

      Dave Chappelle only cares about his own freedom of speech, not anyone else’s

      • Thank you, Hoi Polloi and Infidel. And you are right–but the whole point of freedom of speech is to protect the speech of people you may *not* agree with.

  4. Dave is the entertainment. If he wasn’t the entertainment the Saudis would treat him like shit. He wouldn’t have been allowed in to begin with. The Saudis dont want Africans running around freely in their kingdom.

    • Precisely! Our woketivists who combat “Whiteness” daily should maybe start w/ those Arab countries. Let’s see them dare!

      • If Dave and I were both just average guys (one black one white) on a trip to Saudi Arabia, I would have more freedom there than Dave would. And they wouldn’t make me wear a tablecloth nor would I have to be entertaining in any way. I would have to tell Dave to quit following me because he is attracting the attention of the authorities.

  6. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are buying everything and everyone who will support the migration take over of other countries from within.

  7. I wish we had kept some of the restrictions on immigration from the time of Teddy Roosevelt. Idiots, imbeciles and polygamists were banned.

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