Comedians are continuing to try to justify performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. That includes Bill Burr, who thinks anyone who is criticizing him are a bunch of “sanctimonious c***s.”
Many in the comedy community were upset with comedians who decided to perform at the festival that was funded by the Saudi royals. They’re controversial due to their authoritarian rule and so while many comedians, like Burr, are now selling their involvement in this festival as “for the people,” they’re still accepting money from the Saudi royals to do it. And accepting their terms, which included not pushing back at them.
“The general consensus is, ‘How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh, you f*****g piece of s***. I can’t believe you went to that place. I can’t find it on a map, and this bot said I was upset about it so now I am,” Burr said while talking with Conan O’Brien. “It’s one thing to wear clothes made by sweatshop labor. It’s quite another to go to the factory and make ’em laugh. I can’t believe how much anger I had about this issue after it went viral.”
Burr went on to talk about how people who are mad at him are basically miserable people. “All of these sanctimonious c**** out there…who don’t really sincerely give a s***,” he said. “If you actually give a f*** about those people and how they’re living over there, there’s gonna have to be these types of things to pull them in. And I will tell you, the Cheesecake Factory in Riyadh, it’s incredible. It’s right next to Pizza Hut and KFC, and if you want a pair of Timberlands, it’s across the street next to the Marriott, catty-corner to the f*****g Hilton.”
Others are pushing back at those who attended
Aziz Ansari was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his new movie, Good Fortune. While there, Jimmy Kimmel pressed him on his involvement in the festival and even pointed out that while yes, the United States Government is doing horrible things, there are also things that the Saudi government did that are terrifying. Like killing a journalist.
Ansari said that it was “something I put a lot of thought into” before accepting the invitation to perform. But what I did love about his response was not only did he detail his own thought process behind it, he shared that he was donating part of his earning towards organizations like Reporters Without Borders.
“I have an aunt that lived there for a while, and I talked to her about this, and she said, you know, there’s people over there that don’t agree with the stuff that the government’s doing, and to ascribe like the worst behavior of the government onto those people, that’s not fair,” Ansari said.
He went on to explain that his hope with the festival was that the younger people of Saudi Arabia could help enact change. “I was just there to do a show for the people, and I talked to my wife about this before I went, and she said, you know, whenever there’s repressive societies like this, they try to keep things out, whether it’s rock and roll music, or, blue jeans, because it makes people curious about outside ideas, outside values,” Ansari said. “And this is a very young country, like half the country is under the age of 25, and things can really change. And to me, a comedy festival felt like something that’s pushing things to be more open and to push a dialogue. You kind of have to make a choice of whether you’re going to isolate or engage.”
Kudos to Kimmel for not letting broad statements stand.
You aren’t some hero for telling jokes there
Ansari’s approach to the situation is markedly better than Burr’s. He announced he was donating some of the money and he is taking a stand against the government and doing it for the people of Saudi Arabia. I can respect that. Burr saying anyone who is upset with him is wrong is the opposite of what you should do in this situation.
And hey, maybe Burr donated his and we don’t know it. But it still is messed up to get up on a stage and act as if you’re better than everyone else when people have rightful concerns about the festival at large, especially one that stated in the rules that you could not mock the royals.
(featured image: Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage)
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