“the comedian Atsuko Okatsuka recently posted a screenshot of the proposed contract she received (and turned down) from the festival’s organizers. The section she shared, titled “Content Restrictions”, forbade material that denigrates “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, or people”, as well as the country’s legal system. It is a far cry from the principled stands comedians have taken against censorship in the past. Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, role models for many of today’s free speech warriors, both did battle with government censors: Bruce was arrested, prosecuted and convicted for his act, while Carlin’s led to a landmark supreme court decision that upheld the FCC’s authority to regulate indecency and obscenity on the public airwaves. For these comedians, “freedom of speech” means the freedom to say anything you want, including to be cruel to racial minorities, women, trans people and immigrants; to associate with conspiracy theorists and lend their platforms to politicians set on undermining democracy. Yet for all their claims of free speech absolutism, it now seems clear comedy’s champions of liberty are all too happy to censor themselves for the right price”
These dirtbags aren’t champions of free speech or principled warriors like George Carlin or Lenny Bruce. They are lazy bullies who take cheap and easy shots at vulnerable people, so stupid people will laugh.
So of COURSE they are going to take blood money from a murderous regime while they pat themselves on the back.
George Carlin would excoriate them. Lenny Bruce would savage their weakness.
And, like David Cross said, none of these comics need the money. They are all choosing to enrich themselves while they help whitewash and soften the image of one of the most repressive and murderous nations on the planet.
Everyone has choices to make in their lives, and those choices matter. These comics have all shown us that they aren’t worthy of our respect or attention, and they should be reminded when they do shows in America that they are stained by the blood money they accepted.
“We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it’s complaining that we don’t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBQT peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings). I mean that’s it; you have a funny bit about how you don’t like Yankee Candles or airport lounges? Okay great, but you’re cool with murder and/or the public caning of women who were raped, and by having the audacity to be raped, were guilty of “engaging in adultery”? Got any bits on that?”
Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Pete Davidson, Andrew Schulz,
Jo Koy, Bill Burr, Jessica Kirson, Jimmy Carr and Louis C.K.: Sebastian Maniscalco,
Maz Jobrani, Tom Segura, Whitney Cummings, Jimeoin, Russell Peters,
Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Chris Distefano, Mark Normand, Gabriel
Iglesias, Hannibal Buress, Sam Morril, Jeff Ross, Omid Djalili, Ali
Siddiq, Zarna Garg, Chris Tucker and Ben Hart.
I did sketch comedy with Maz Jobrani for years at ACME Comedy Theatre. I loved him as a person and as a comic. It breaks my heart that he is part of this.
