Jimmy Kimmel asked Aziz Ansari about his participation in the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival.
Numerous comedians, including Pete Davidson, Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle, have faced enormous challenges. backlash after they were announced as part of the Saudi Arabian Comedy Festival. It was paid by the Saudi government, and according to screenshots shared by comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, comedians were banned from telling any negative jokes about the country, its royal family or any religions.
Human Rights Watch claimed that the event was intended to “divert attention from [Saudi Arabia's] brutal repression of freedom of speech and other widespread human rights violations,” noting that the festival coincided with the seventh anniversary murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate.
After performing at the festival and during the press release of his new film. Good luckJimmy questioned Aziz in detail about why he decided to participate.
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Aziz Ansari / Via youtube.com
“Now, obviously, this has become a big part of the news because people, especially a lot of comedians, are very upset because the people who paid the comedians to come on this are not good people,” Jimmy began. “This is a pretty brutal regime. They've done a lot of terrible, terrible things, and so people wonder why you went there and took their money to perform in front of these people. I'm just curious.”
“I’m glad you asked because I’ve thought about it a lot,” Aziz responded, noting that he reached out to his aunt, who lived there for a time. “She said, 'There are people out there who don't agree with what the government is doing, and to attribute the government's worst behavior to those people is unfair.' Just like in America there are people who don’t agree with what the government is doing.”
Although Jimmy admitted that things are far from ideal in the US, he hinted to the execution of a Saudi journalist in June this year (in August Human Rights Watch reported that 241 people were executed in 2025). Jimmy continued: “They killed a journalist. There are bad people there. Did you deal with these people specifically?”
“I was just there to put on a show for people,” Aziz replied. “I was talking about this with my wife before I left, and she said, 'Whenever you have such repressive societies, they try not to allow anything – whether it's rock 'n' roll or blue jeans – because it makes people interested in external ideas, external values. And this is a very young country, half the country is under 25, and things can really change.” And to me, the comedy festival seemed like something that would push for more openness and push for dialogue.”
“You kind of have to make a choice whether you're going to isolate yourself or participate. For me, especially because I look the way I do and being Muslim, it felt like something that I should be a part of. And I hope that it pushes things in a positive direction,” Aziz continued.
“I told myself and my team, 'Hey, if we do this, a portion of the royalties should go to supporting initiatives that support a free press and human rights,'” he continued to applause from the audience. When asked about specific organizations, Aziz responded, “I think I read about Reporters Without Borders, which I thought was really great, and Human Rights Watch.”
“Human Rights Watch did not call for comedians to boycott the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but simply asked them to express their support for free speech by calling for the release of Saudi activists unjustly imprisoned,” Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report. statement from the organization. “Aziz Ansari and other comedians have generously offered to donate a portion of their performance fees to human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, but while we cannot agree, it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.”
You can watch the full interview Here.
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