Musician Weird Al Yankovic revealed he turned down an offer of at least $1,000,000 to perform at last year’s Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.
The festival is controversial due to its connection with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Islamic regime, which sanctioned the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mike Birbiglia, Atsuko Okatsuka, and Shane Gillis are only some of the comedians who have turned down offers to perform; others, like Jimmy Kimmel and Marc Maron, have become vocal critics of the festival for its censorship, human rights violations, and political agenda.
“I’m not dissing anybody that took the money because I’m sure everybody that went there got a lot of money,” Yankovic said. “I’m sure they had their own reasons and justifications for doing it. But I’m doing enough that I don’t need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did.”
Comedians who participated in the festival, including Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, and Kevin Hart, defended their choice by claiming their performances provided an opportunity to spark dialogue. The festival paid performers between $350,000 and $1.6 million for appearing.
Louis C.K., who also headlined the festival and has admitted to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, said the censorship wasn’t an issue for him.
“They said there’s only two restrictions: their religion and their government,” C.K. said. “I don’t have jokes about those two things. It used to be when I got offers from places like that, there would be a long list, and I’d just say, ‘No, I don’t need that.’ But when I heard it’s opening, I thought, that’s awfully interesting. That just feels like a good opportunity. And I just feel like comedy is a great way to get in and start talking.”
Turning down the Riyadh festival, which Human Rights Watch called a way for the Saudi government to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations,” is far from the only time Weird Al has rejected an offer due to personal principles. Earlier this month, he pulled out of an AI ad despite the “nice pile of money” he would have received.
“I wish people would offer me things that I didn’t feel bad about accepting,” Yankovic said. But when it came to the Riyadh Comedy Festival, he added, “I just couldn’t be part of that.”
