The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on the comedians scheduled to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival either to cancel their participation or to use the festival as a platform to denounce the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
By lending their talents and credibility to this event, these performers risk becoming accomplices in a calculated effort by one of the world’s most repressive regimes to rehabilitate its global image. This is not genuine cultural exchange but a propaganda campaign whitewashing a record of brutality and repression. Performers are reported to have agreed to content restrictions as part of their contracts with festival organizers.
It is impossible to ignore the timing of this event. The Saudi regime has deliberately scheduled its comedy festival to coincide with the anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. There, acting under orders from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi security forces suffocated and dismembered him for his commitment to telling the truth. The ongoing lack of accountability for his premeditated murder remains an open wound for the global community. The attempt to drown out demands for justice with government-sanctioned laughter is an explicit insult to the memory of Khashoggi and to everyone suffering under the regime’s repression. Khashoggi attended HRF’s Oslo Freedom Forum just months before his murder; HRF produced the award-winning feature film “The Dissident,” detailing Khashoggi’s brutal slaying with never-before-seen surveillance footage.
The Saudi government’s deplorable human rights record is an ongoing reality for millions. The regime systematically jails writers, peaceful activists, women’s rights campaigners, and anyone bold enough to speak their mind. Blogger Raif Badawi was publicly flogged during his 10 years in prison and remains barred from traveling for simply advocating for secularism. Waleed abu Khair, Badawi’s lawyer, has been in jail for more than 11 years for peacefully calling for democratic reform. Salma Al-Shehab was initially sentenced to 34 years in prison for her tweets in support of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul have faced years of torture and abuse for simply advocating for Saudi women’s rights, including the right to drive. Free expression in the kingdom is not just discouraged; it is criminalized. A tweet, a meme, or a whisper of dissent can mean imprisonment and even the threat of execution.
The climate of fear and surveillance that defines daily life in Saudi Arabia extends to every sphere of society. Political gatherings are outlawed. Independent journalism does not exist. Civil society is suffocated under the boot of the state’s security apparatus. Executions continue at one of the highest rates in the world, targeting not just alleged criminals but minor protesters and anyone deemed a threat to “national security.” Vague anti-terror laws are wielded as a tool to silence those who dare imagine a freer future.
Yet, in recent years, the regime has undertaken a well-orchestrated campaign to buy back its reputation. This strategy, known as sportswashing and cultural whitewashing, sees Saudi Arabia spending billions to host sporting tournaments, concerts, and now international comedy festivals. The real objective is to attract celebrity attention and positive headlines, diverting global scrutiny away from the ongoing silencing of dissent, the criminalization of the LGBT community and denial of women’s rights, and the brutal enforcement of conformity.
The comedians who have accepted invitations to Riyadh must confront a difficult truth — by performing, they become instruments of propaganda. They are helping Saudi Arabia paper over mass surveillance, torture, and the blood of dissidents with applause and laughter. No fee or contract can cleanse the stain of participating in a dictator’s rebranding campaign.
There is another choice — and it is one worth celebrating. We commend those artists, such as Atsuko Okatsuka, who refused the kingdom’s invitation and posted the terms the regime required comedians to abide by, and David Cross, who made it clear: integrity and solidarity with the oppressed are more valuable than any paycheck or audience. His refusal sends a vital message, inspiring colleagues and fans alike to use their power to amplify truth, not censorship.
As the Saudi government invests in comedy festivals and concerts to fabricate an image of openness, countless citizens languish in prison or live in permanent exile for exercising the basic human rights these events supposedly celebrate. The laughter in Riyadh is state-sanctioned and instrumentalized, designed to project modernity and reform while muffling cries for liberty and justice. There can be no true creativity or humor where fear reigns and ideas are policed.
HRF urges the international community, and especially those with the privilege of a global platform, to remember and honor the silenced. Refuse to become a tool in the hands of censors and tyrants. Stand, instead, with the journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens whose stories have been forcibly erased.
Comedy should punch up at dictators — not prop up their regimes. As the regime tries to silence dissent with staged laughter, let the world answer with solidarity, memory, and truth.
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