Aziz Ansari was among the comedians who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia to perform at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival, a decision that raised eyebrows and prompted questions from Jimmy Kimmel.
Ansari appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday, October 6th, to promote his feature directorial debut, Good Fortune. Toward the end of the interview, Kimmel took the opportunity to ask Ansari about his choice to perform at the festival.
“People are questioning why you would go over there and take their money to perform in front of these people,” Kimmel commented. “This is something that’s become a big part of the news because people, a lot of comedians especially, are very upset because the people who paid the comedians to come to this are not good people. It’s a pretty brutal regime. They’ve done a lot of horrible, horrible things… I’m curious as to why you decided to do that.”
Ansari noted that “it’s something I put a lot of thought into” before deciding to accept the invitation.
“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 explained. “Just like there’s people in America that don’t agree with the things the government is doing, right?”
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Kimmel continued to press Ansari, saying that while the American government is doing “horrible things,” he called out the Saudi government for extreme atrocities, saying, “They murdered a journalist,” in reference to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, adding that “these are not good people over there.”
“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.”
Later on in the interview, Ansari shared that after accepting the invitation to perform, he decided that part of his fee would go towards “causes that support free press and human rights,” specifying Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch.
“It’s a complicated issue, but I felt like it was something that was pushing things in the right direction, I hope,” Ansari added. Watch the full interview below.
Bill Burr, who also appeared at the festival, used his podcast to defend the decision, calling it a “great” experience, and concluding that the people there are “just like us.”
Dave Chappelle declared that “it’s easier to talk here (in Saudi Arabia) than it is in America” during his set at the festival.
Lesbian comic Jessica Kirson apologized for performing at the event, while Louis C.K. has defended his decision to appear.
Other comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival include Sebastian Maniscalco, Kevin Hart, Chris Tucker, Pete Davidson, and Whitney Cummings.