Human Rights Watch have said that they are “unable to accept” donations from comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, after Aziz Ansari said he planned to donate part of his fee to rights groups.
The first-ever Riyadh Comedy Festival, hosted by Saudi Arabia’s government, took place from 26 September to 9 October 2025 as part of “Vision 2030”. The initiative, the brainchild of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, also includes the highly-controversial LIV Golf tournament and investments in the tech, gaming and venture capital sectors.
After the festival was first announced in July, major comedians like Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Jack Whitehall, Aziz Ansari, and Jimmy Carr were announced as part of the lineup. The performers were believed to be making anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to more than one million, according to a comedian who was previously invited.
At the time, the comedians were dubbed “sellouts” by some peers and fans, and faced heavy criticism for agreeing to be part of the festival. Critics pointed to a host of rights issues, from Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and a rise in executions for non-lethal and drug-related crimes to long prison sentences imposed for social media posts.
Defending his decision to perform at the festival, Ansari said he didn’t feel it was fair to “ascribe the worst behaviour of the government” on the people who lived in the country and didn’t agree with it.
He added that he shared the “concerns that people have brought up, and it’s all valid” and that he discussed with his team the possibility of donating a “part of the fee” to “causes that support free press and human rights,” like Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch.
Comedian Jessica Kirson also said she “deeply” regretted performing, and that she would donate her entire fee to an undisclosed human rights organisation.
In a statement, Human Rights Watch said they were “unable to accept the donation”.
“Human Rights Watch urged the comedians performing to call for the release of Waleed Abu al-Khair, a human rights defender, and Manahel al-Otaibi, a female fitness instructor and women’s rights activist. None appear to have publicly done so,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Human Rights Watch didn’t call for comedians to boycott the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but simply asked them to express their support for free speech by urging the release of Saudi activists unjustly imprisoned,” she said.
“Aziz Ansari and other comedians have generously offered to donate part of their performance fees to rights groups like Human Rights Watch, but while we cannot accept, it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.
“The Riyadh Comedy Festival is part of the Saudi government’s strategy to whitewash its poor human rights record, and participating comedians have a responsibility to avoid laundering the government’s reputation.”
Human Rights Watch had released a similar statement in September, asking for the comedians part of the lineup to “use the comedy festival to publicly urge Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained Saudi dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists”.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Ansari for comment.
Tim Dillon, a comedian who was scheduled to perform but was later pulled from the line-up for joking about slavery in Saudi Arabia, said he was offered $315,000 (£236,710) for a single show. Dillon claimed his more famous colleagues were paid upwards of $1.6m (£1.2m).
Pete Davidson has defended his decision to take part, telling podcaster Theo Von that he agreed to the performance after seeing the amount he was being paid.
Comedians Jim Jefferies and Chris Distefano also cited high paychecks in their defence. “I didn’t want to do it either,’” Distefano told Stavros Halkias. “And then [Distefano’s wife] was like ‘You’re going to take that f***ing money.’”
Comedian Shane Gillis said he was offered a spot in the festival but turned it down, citing the Saudis’ alleged involvement in funding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, something Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied. He claimed that after he said no, the festival “doubled” its offer.
Marc Maron addressed the irony of edgy comedians performing in a kingdom accused of brutally repressing free speech, asking: “How do you even promote that? ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert – don’t miss it.’”
US comic David Cross also said he was “disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing” and called out comedy giants Chappelle, Louis CK, and Burr for their previous statements on “cancel culture” and “freedom of speech”.
Dave Chappelle reportedly told an audience of around 6,000 in his set that it was “easier to talk here than it is in America”.
“Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m gonna find out,” he said. Chappelle later said that he is concerned about returning to the US because “they’re going to do something to me so that I can’t say what I want to say.”
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Tim Dillon says he was fired from Riyadh Comedy Festival over slavery jokes
