Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | News | September 25, 2025
I’m not sure why I direct most of my ire at Bill Burr over the other comedians attending the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which include Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Jeff Ross, Bobby Lee, Chris Tucker, Tom Segura, Jessica Kirson, Hannibal Buress, Aziz Ansari, Pete Davidson, and Whitney Cummings. It’s not that I like him the most (that would probably be Kirson or Buress) or that I’m most disappointed in him (that would be Davidson and Ansari). I think it’s that choosing to accept a huge paycheck to help whitewash the Saudi royal family feels more antithetical to Bill Burr’s ethos. Here’s a guy who regularly blasts the hypocrisy of both sides of the political spectrum, but apparently doesn’t hesitate to take money from a country responsible for egregious human rights violations.
For a festival that starts this weekend, there has been surprisingly little coverage, which is probably the way these comedians prefer it. Most are not promoting their shows, and for good reason: they’re embarrassed. Still, some have offered defenses. One, Mark Normand, was at least honest: “I’m going in and out. Just to get that paycheck.”
It’s not the paycheck I object to; it’s what these comedians are giving the Saudi royal family in return. They’re not being paid to be funny. They’re not being paid to entertain. They’re being paid to make the world forget about the government’s atrocities. They are being used as tools of an oppressive regime.
Jim Jefferies took a different approach in his defense: “You don’t think our government has f**king bumped people? I think Jeffrey Epstein was f**ing bumped off,” he said on Theo Von’s podcast. Others have claimed this is no different than performing in Israel.
Except that it is. There’s a major distinction between playing in the United States or Israel and performing in Saudi Arabia: they’re not being paid by the Trump Administration or the Netanyahu Administration. Here, they are being paid by the Saudi royal family to whitewash the Saudi royal family. And most, from what I understand, have agreed not to say anything that might anger the Saudi government, like, say: jokes about their own gay identity, Jessica Kirson.
The remarkable thing to me is that of all the comedians offered a dump truck of money to perform in Saudi Arabia, it’s someone like Shane Gillis taking a principled stand. Gillis is not the only one who turned down the offer (Stavros Halkias has also been outspoken in his rejection), but Gillis may be the most surprising.
“I’m not doing it,” he told the Secret Podcast. “Then they doubled the bag,” Gillis said. “It was a significant bag. But I’d already said no. I took a principled stand.”
“You don’t 9/11 your friends,” he added.
Those are words I would have hoped to hear from someone like Pete Davidson, who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks, but not necessarily the star of Tires.
Anyway, here’s Zach Woods.
@zachwoods Louis CK AND the Saudi Royal Family! Who could ask for more?!
♬ original sound - Zach Woods
via YouTube
