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Dave Chappelle Criticizes Free Speech in America at Saudi Arabia Comedy Festival
(www.hollywoodreporter.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
588 points (96.8% liked)
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So what did he actually say?
Well, that sounds... accurate. Doesn't excuse the other things he's said, but... yea.
Edit: I stand by the first part of my comment. I was not paying enough attention to the second half ("it's easier to talk here..."). That part, not so much.
I mean, not really. If he really thinks it's easier to talk there than here, he should make a bonesaw joke on stage in Riyadh.
SA gave rules to the court jesters that went there, you cant criticize SA, or MSB, or islam in anyway, even inneundos or implying.
No they don't give a fuxk about insulting Islam. Many forign performers shitted on Islam so hard on stage there, and they doubled their pay for it and reinvited them agaim. They just shove it alongside because it'd look bad if they only said can't criticize the government
Did you see the contract he signed? “Easier to talk here” is just factually incorrect.
If you're looking for a factually correct comic, Carlin's dead.
Sorry to tell you but Carlin was also part of “the club” He was way too rich to be one of us, even if he made money pretending to be.
Where in your mind is this hard bright line
Hes the one who created the concept, the hard right line was on him to define.
But if you’re asking for my own opinion, when you’re a double digit millionaire (much richer with inflation) whose job it is to perform for sold out audiences, you’re no longer one of the little people
Okay, but you're also not in the club. At best you're the hired help.
I’m sure you see all people of my colour that way
Green?
Say what you will about repression of free speech in Saudi Arabia (and there is a lot that can be said), at least with a contract you know where the line is. The royal family knows they're not proponents of free speech.
America is in that awkward teenage phase of not knowing who they are right now, leaving a lot of ambiguity around free speech.
I appreciate Saudi Arabia's clarity. Even if they are objectively wrong. America just seems self-righteously confused, if such a state even exists.
Did he actually say anything about Kirk or did he chicken out?
I heard it'll cost you an arm and a leg to find out.
Is it accurate? Did he criticize the Saudi government?
I wonder how that went over. It’s obviously criticizing America, but really at the expense of SA by saying their free speech is shit. (Which if you think about it violates the terms of the contract someone else posted in this thread.)
Depends on his intonation. It can come across as complimentary depending on which word he emphasized.