My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival
officialdavidcross.com
I’ve been asked for my opinion on the Riyadh Comedy Festival and rather than answer the same question 23 times, I’ll just put this out here. Oh, and I should preface this with the fact that I was not offered the gig but it should go without saying that there’s not enough money for me to help these depraved, awful peopl
  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
    19·
    21 hours ago

    So they invited comedians from all over the world, mostly English speaking I guess, to perform in gigantic palaces created by oil money and slave labor, in an ultrasexist and alround repressive absolute monarchy? So repressive that it probably does not have its own comedians.

    This is in itself so cynical that I’m all out of snark.

  • jason_is_back@tucson.social
    211·
    1 day ago

    I was a massive bill burr fan before. The trans and woke jokes started to piss me off but I gave him a one time pass. It felt like a band wagon tread for the period.

    Now, fuck him. He is not poor, most of them are wealthy. A poor comedian I could understand and give a one time pass, if they didn’t know.

    Peter Davidson is not my kind of comedy but I had major respect for him. Everything that he went through and he came out clean. Now? Wow, him and Yeezy are neck and neck for biggest pos that dated Kim. They kill your dad and you get on your knees and suck them off. WHAT A WHORE!

  • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
    416·
    1 day ago

    I see a few justifications for boycott that overlap with US government activity globally. Especially with the US bankrolling the largest scale genocide of the 21st century… I’m not sure if I would treat these comedians any differently for performing in the US versus Saudi Arabia since both nations have an illustrious record of crimes against humanity.

    But if others want to justify their anger over this I’d love to understand better.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
      8·
      21 hours ago

      This isn’t just an event in Saudi Arabia, it’s an event run by the Saudi government, with the specific purpose of making them seem more normal and likeable, and less like the horrific autocratic tyrants that they are.

      So no, your comparison between this and comedians working in the US does not apply. A more apt comparison would be between working this event and working Trump’s inauguration, something that a huge number of artists declined for exactly the same reasons that these comedians all should have declined to work this event.

      • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
        24·
        19 hours ago

        Yes one could argue that performing at this festival would show more direct support for the Saudi government because of that.

        Those that have performed for the Trump administration have received some ire. Perhaps not to this level. Which brings us back to the my team vs your team arbitrary tribal culture war level thinking which many uniformed fall into.

        The human rights record of the US government is not exactly stellar, particularly on a global scale.

        In my view if you do work at a venue that pays taxes in the US (which is everywhere) you are financially supporting the government via those payments. In other words, you are indirectly funding the worst genocide we’ve seen so far in the 21st century.

        I doubt anything Saudi has done recently comes close to that scale.

        American media is currently whitewashing all aspects of the genocide its government is funding including protests in Italy. By this argument, we should be boycotting American media companies and any comedians who have their content distributed through them if we are being morally consistent.

    • just_another_person@lemmy.worldOP
      22·
      1 day ago

      Individual people, in this case comedians, who are participating in disgusting horse trading of morals like this (and you are doing) are easily actionable. Don’t support them. Don’t go to their shows.

      In the US, fighting an entire government is next to impossible on single issues.

      This is actionable. Fuck these people.

      • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
        216·
        1 day ago

        Perhaps the argument that could be made is that the US does not place limitations on speech (for now, the current government seems intent on changing that). But, as far as I can tell, engaging with the US economy indirectly funds the genocide in Gaza and other abhorrent actions by the US government. I have trouble seeing it as any more than “they’re the bad team and we obviously must be the good team”.

        Saudi Arabia wouldn’t even be in a position to host such an event if the US hadn’t spent decades buying their oil. Most Americans have historically supported the Saudi regime financially just by going to the gas station.

        The phrase “money talks” originated in the US in the 1930s. Americans have largely lived by that mantra since WW2, using economic force to shape the world as they see fit, sometimes resulting in incredible harm to others globally.

        One can’t have their cake and eat it too I’m afraid.

        Finally, while Saudi Arabia is not a perfect nation (I’d like to see which nation is) having progressive voices (relative to the cultural standard there) be amplified is a benefit to humanity. This is how minds are changed. Through stories from different perspectives. Through art. No nation, no people are so far lost that they are beyond conversation. That’s would be a level of dehumanization that’d call into question our own humanity.

          • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
            39·
            1 day ago

            Depends what era we’re looking at because the US government has been responsible for several assassinations and substantial foreign interference. I can assure you the US government has done worse at a much larger scale throughout its history. Americans tend to be less aware of their own history than folks around the world since they don’t bear the brunt of the worst of their governments misdeeds.

            By this logic, any foreign comedian that performs in the US should be admonished because of every wrong the US government has ever committed. I’m sorry but the reasoning is flawed.

            Its better to just say you’re biased (as we all are) and that Saudi Arabia is, in your perception, not on your team so that’s why its a problem to you specifically.