Dave Chappelle Says He Doesn’t “Feel Guilty At All” For Performing In Saudi Arabia

A lot of controversy in the comedy world earlier this as a bunch of big-time comedians including Dave Chappelle flew out to participate at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia; a country with an extensive record of human rights abuses and strict censorship rules that undermine the free speech principles that a lot of comics claim to champion.

Well, Dave Chappelle doesn’t see it that way, and went into the topic during his new Netflix special where he pointed out that unlike in the US, his “transgender jokes went over really well” in Saudi Arabia.

Chappelle reiterated a previous statement he made that “it’s easier to talk in Saudi Arabia for me than it is in America,” pointed out that he was nearly canceled in the US years ago for his jokes about the trans community. 

He added: “But I’ve gotta tell you something — transgender jokes went over very well in Saudi Arabia,” while also joking that he no longer works at Netflix and his new job is to “sit by the phone and wait for them Arabs to call me.”

Furthermore, he said: “I’ll take money from Saudi Arabia any day just so I can say no over here. It feels good to be free. And I know that the people in Saudi Arabia can’t say all the things that I was allowed to say. But a deal’s a deal, and the king said that I could say these things. So I looked at it like I was on a diplomatic mission: I’ve gotta bring p-ssy jokes to the Middle East.”

Lol – fair enough really. Of course he doesn’t feel guilty for performing in Saudi Arabia; he made a ton of money, faced no consequences, and there’s more than a touch of hypocrisy in some of the criticism he’s received anyway.

Chappelle points out: “These motherf—ers act like because I did a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia I somehow betrayed my principles… They said, ‘Well, Saudi Arabia killed a journalist’ and rest in peace Jamal Khashoggi. I’m sorry that he got murdered in such a heinous fashion. And also, look bro, Israel’s killed 240 journalists in the last three months so I didn’t know y’all were still counting.”

Can’t argue with that, really.

For the last time a Dave Chappelle joke kicked up this amount of fuss, click HERE.