Our brave moral betters in the world of comedy have come to the conclusion that American free speech pales in comparison to the free speech culture of Saudi Arabia, and they have been helped to that conclusion by stacks of Saudi cash.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia was a collection of some of the biggest names in comedy. One of those performers was Dave Chappelle, who had an interesting theory to posit to the Saudi crowd. “Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled,” Chappelle said. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m going to find out.” He also said that “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.”
EVERYONE KNOWS THE LEFT IS THE REAL THREAT TO FREE SPEECH
Sorry, did I say “interesting theory?” I meant a really, really dumb theory.
Not to be a buzzkill that fact-checks a joke, but because Chappelle doesn’t know if it’s true, it is best that we help him out. No, you aren’t going to get fired for talking about Kirk. You might get fired if you say that it is good that he was gunned down in cold blood or that he deserved to die, because that is an insane thing to say. You might also get temporarily taken off the air if you purposefully spread disinformation about the man who killed Kirk in an effort to score political points, which is what happened to the liberal patron saint of comedy, Jimmy Kimmel.
That last comment from Chappelle is a particularly fun one to delve into, though. “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America” is what Chappelle argued, despite it being illegal to criticize government officials or believe in any religion other than Islam in Saudi Arabia. Believe it or not, the Islamic monarchy of Saudi Arabia is a little more restrictive on speech issues than the constitutional republic of the United States, which specifically enshrines free speech into law.
But Chappelle was given stacks of cash to be part of this Saudi propaganda festival, and that’s exactly what he set out to do. He joked that America would restrict his speech and that his code phrase to signal that it had happened would have to be something he would never say: “I stand with Israel.” The bravery of criticizing the Jewish country in front of a Saudi audience is truly stunning.
WHEN DID ENGLAND GIVE UP ON FREE SPEECH?
Chappelle thinks his routine is transgressive, like when he criticized transgender people in 2021. The irony is apparently lost on him that the people offended by that routine actually did try to get him fired or that the guy accused of killing Kirk had a transgender partner, with Kirk’s death being a result of the same violence from transgender activists that led to Chappelle being attacked onstage.
Chappelle apparently decided that the only way to top going against the violent transgender movement would be to pander to the Saudi government. Safe to say, he won’t be facing a real punishment when he returns to his American routines after criticizing America like he would if he had, say, chosen to criticize Saudi Arabia.