Human Rights Watch 'cannot accept' donations from comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.
Artists suffering from performance remorse over their participation in the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia are going to have to find another human rights organization to donate their earnings to.
the other night, Human Rights Watch “cannot accept” donations from comedians who have performance remorse over their participation in the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Appearing onon Tuesday, Ansari said that he would be donating portions of the money he was paid by the Saudi royal family, whose leader, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the assassination of], to organizations like Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. Alas, while the latter appreciates the comedians who “generously offered to donate part of their performance fees,” they must decline. Unlike the comedians, Human Rights Watch has some standards regarding who it accepts money from. Along with Ansari, comedian Jessica Kirson, one of the three women who performed at the festival, committed to donating her fee to a human rights organization— “But while we cannot accept , it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists,” 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.”Jerry Seinfeld compares"Free Palestine" to the KKK:"The Klan is actually a little better here" As of this reporting, none of the comedians have called for the release of the detained activists. Nevertheless, Human Rights Watch did attempt to warn comedians that this whole “accepting money from the Saudi government thing” was a bad idea, and they weren’t,from the festival after making comments about Khashoggi on a podcast. Even the freedom-of-speech machine has limits.) In a statement released last month, HRW stated that the Riyadh festival was a means of whitewashing human rights abuses, such as the dismemberment of Khashoggi. “The seventh anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder is no laughing matter, and comedians receiving hefty sums from Saudi authorities shouldn’t be silent on prohibited topics in Saudi like human rights or free speech,” said Shea. “Everyone performing in Riyadh should use this high-profile opportunity to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.”look virtuous, the Riyadh comedians returned to tell us how much more chill Saudi Arabia is than we might think, pointing out Riyadh’s many Pizza Hut and Cheesecake Factory outposts. Now, one might say, “But, Bill Burr, you’re not a corporate entity, you’re an artist. Shouldn’t you hold yourself to a higher standard?”Thanks, but Human Rights Watch"cannot accept" donations from Riyadh Comedy Fest performers
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