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Marc Maron, Shane Gillis slam fellow comedians performing at Saudi comedy festival
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
410 points (98.6% liked)
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In the article it mentions that Tim Dillon was uninvited after some derogatory comments about the regime there. He should have saved that material until he was there
He might not have come home.
They would have needed a bigger suitcase at the very least.
I saw what you did there
I suspect at least one comedian will cross some line but I also suspect that showing which lines are okay to cross now is the Saudi government's reason for doing this all in the first place.
Their government is in a super precarious position both economically and socially. Oil revenue is shrinking and the younger generation doesn't identify so heavily with the wahabists. But the wahabists historically held nearly as much power as the house of Saud and heavily oppose all social change. The pace at which Saudi society has westernized is remarkable considering where they were just 10 years ago, even if brought about by an authoritarian ruler consolidating power from religious fundamentalists. This is yet another step in the direction of pushing the wahabists further aside for the sake of westernizing their economy.
I really don't envy the position MBS is stuck in. He faces enormous pressure from the wahabists who criticize the limited social changes he has brought, he faces distrust from the house of Saud most of whom he essentially accused of mass corruption, and criticism from the West for Saudi's poor human rights record. And amid all of this the country faces the economic crisis of the world moving away from oil. It's no wonder the dude is focusing on stupid mega projects as that's just about the only thing he can do without upsetting a huge number of people.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like if Saudi Arabia were a democracy. I suspect their politics would be far more divided and heated than any Western country.
I'm definitely curious to see how many of these comedians test boundaries and are summarily disappeared before they leave the country.
Could even be a joint plan to get rid of some of them.