Atsuko Okatsuka is revealing a few of the details in the offer she was presented with to appear at Saudi Arabia’s ongoing Riyadh Comedy Festival.
The comedian took to Threads where she shared a screenshot of an alleged offer she received to perform at the festival. In the post, Okatsuka noted that accepting the potential booking came with “censorship rules” that “a lot of the ‘you can’t say anything anymore!’ comedians” agreed to.
“The money is coming straight from the Crown Prince, who actively executes journalists, ppl [sic] with nonlethal drug offenses, bloggers, etc without due process,” she wrote. “A lot of the ‘you can’t say anything anymore!’ Comedians are doing the festival … they had to adhere to censorship rules about the types of jokes they can make.”
Riyadh Fest kicked off on Friday and will end on Oct. 9. The list of comedians set to appear include Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, Russell Peters, Gabriel Iglesias and Pete Davidson, among others.
Okatsuka shared a screenshot of outlined “Content Restrictions” from her alleged offer, which read, “ARTIST shall not prepare or perform any material that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule A) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, or people; B) The Saudi royal family, legal system, or government, and; C) Any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice.”
Fellow comedian Marc Maron recently slammed those choosing to participate in Riyadh Comedy Festival. During a video posted from a show of his, the WTF podcast host talked about the Saudi officials’ alleged role in the 9/11 attacks and the 2018 assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.
“I mean, how do you even promote that? You know, like, ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don’t miss it!’” Maron said. “I mean, the same guy that’s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fucking suitcase. But don’t let that stop the yucks, it’s gonna be a good time!”
