U.S. comic Tim Dillon says Saudi Arabia fired him from comedy festival over jokes about slavery

American stand-up comedian Tim Dillon says he has been dropped from the bill of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival because of remarks he made about the country’s alleged use of forced labor.

Dillon was one of many high-profile American comedians set to perform at what organizers have promised will be the “world’s largest comedy festival,” in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, starting on Friday.

Among the other big names set to perform are Bill Burr, Dave Chapelle and Kevin Hart.

In an episode of his podcast The Tim Dillon Show released online on Sept. 20, the comedian said he had been “fired” from the festival because of jokes he had previously made referencing the alleged use of forced labor in the conservative Islamic kingdom.

“They heard what you said about them having slaves,” Dillon recalled his manager telling him in a previous conversation, in the podcast. “They didn’t like that.”

“I addressed it in a funny way, and they fired me,” he said. “I certainly wasn’t gonna show up in your country and insult the people that are paying me the money.”

The remarks referenced were part of a previous podcast episode, aired on Aug. 30, in which Dillon repeatedly joked about alleged slavery in Saudi Arabia, and his decision to accept a reported payment of $375,000 for his performance at the Riyadh festival.

CBS News has not been able to independently verify that figure, and representatives of Dillon have not responded to requests for comment on his contract with the Saudi government-run festival, or his apparent removal from it.

Publicists for Bill Burr, Mark Normand, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dave Chapelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Tom Segura, Andrew Schulz and Jim Jeffries — all of whom are on the bill for the festival — have also not responded to previous CBS News requests for comment.

The comedy festival will be the latest in a string of major sporting and cultural events in Saudi Arabia, which critics say are part of a concerted effort to deflect attention from human rights issues in the kingdom.  

One of the most high-profile examples was in 2021, with the launch of LIV Golf, a golf league that saw seasoned professionals defect from the famed PGA Tour in exchange for highly profitable contracts.

Joey Shea, a researcher for the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch organization alleged to CBS News the comedy festival was a “deliberate effort to whitewash the country’s human rights record and deflect from the egregious abuses that continue to happen inside of the country.”

Shea told CBS News the Western comedians should use their platform to draw attention to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record, and avoid being “complicit in covering up the abuses of a repressive regime.”

CBS News asked Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on HRW’s assertions, but has not received a response.