We don't want your money!
Human rights organisations reject donations from comics who played Riyadh
Comedians hoping to salve their conscience over their Riyadh Comedy Festival performances by donating some of their fee to a human rights charity have been told: ‘We don’t want your money.’
Human Rights Watch has always urged those taking part to use their platform to highlight the cases of unjustly detained Saudi dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists.
However it said that none of the more than 50 international acts who appeared in Riyadh had done so.
‘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,’ said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at the charity.
‘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.’
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on October 6, Ansari, pictured on the show, said that ‘part of the fee [from the festival] should go to support causes that support free press and human rights,’ and that he ‘shares the concerns that people have brought up’. He named Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch.
Jessica Kirson, another comedian who performed at the festival, said that she was donating her entire performance fee to an unspecified human rights organisation. Kirson is a esbian – yet same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Saudi, with a possible death penalty.
She expressed regret for performing at the Riyadh festival, saying: ‘This decision has weighed heavily on my heart ever since. I would like to express my sincere regret for having performed under a government that continues to violate fundamental human rights.
‘I hoped that this could help LGBTQ+ people in Saudi Arabia feel seen and valued. I am grateful that I was able to do precisely that—to my knowledge, I am the first openly gay comic to talk about it on stage in Saudi Arabia.’
American comic Tim Dillon revealed that he was being paid $375,000 (£280,000) for his show, and claimed bigger names were receiving up to $1.6 million (£1.2million). However he was subsequently dropped from the line-up over his comments, which included jokes about slavery in Saudi.
However, Omid Djalili – the only UK-based comic to speak openly about taking part – said most participants ‘received a significantly smaller amount’.
Jimmy Carr, Jack Whitehall and Jimeoin were also headline acts at the event while Chortle has revealed that Andrew Maxwell and Nabil Abdulrashid performed support slots. None have responded to our requests for comments.
Similarly, Human Rights Watch wrote to the representatives and management of a group of comedians taking part ahead of the festival to request a meeting about Saudi Arabia’s human rights crisis. The representatives and management did not reply.
On September 27, Atsuko Okatsuka posted screenshots of what she said were parts of a proposed contract to perform at the festival, which she declined.
They stated that artists were prohibited from performing ‘any material considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule’ the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi royal family, or any religions.
Yet during his Riyadh set, Dave Chappelle claimed: ‘It’s easier to talk here than it is in America’.
Djalili has said that he accepted the invitation as a way to ‘subtly broaden what’s thinkable and sayable in a society’
He said: ‘. Every laugh at a taboo subject shifts norms, albeit slightly. Bear in mind "slightly" is a seismic movement in the Middle East. Dubai is a very different place now to what it was when I first performed there in 2008.
‘When artists perform in the Middle East they don’t just face "the regime". They face real people, many of whom are reform-minded, quietly disillusioned youth who want to embrace new ideas without betraying their own culture and beliefs..’
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s creation of an entertainment industry has been adopted alongside advancements for women and young people in Saudi.
Human Rights Watch say: ‘While extensive and important, these changes have also helped obscure the dramatic curtailing of civil and political rights since he became crown prince in 2017.
'While the emerging Saudi entertainment industry was being lauded internationally, Saudi authorities were simultaneously carrying out waves of arbitrary arrests of dissidents, activists, intellectuals, and royal family members.’
The festival dates included the seventh anniversary of the Saudi state-sponsored murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018, and took place just months after Saudi authorities executed Turki al-Jasser, a prominent Saudi writer and journalist, for various ‘terrorist crimes’ on June 14.
‘The comedians who went to Riyadh can still demand that the Saudi authorities release Manahel and Waleed,’ Shea said. ‘Public pressure from such high-profile artists and free speech advocates could help secure their release and freedom.’
Other acts taking part included Bill Burr, Louis CK, Hannibal Buress, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Russell Peters and Whitney Cummings.
Published: 12 Oct 2025
