Musician and comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic reportedly declined a substantial offer to perform at Saudi Arabia’s first comedy festival. In an interview with Pennsylvania’s Tribune-Review, Yankovic shared that he turned down an invitation to the Riyadh Comedy Festival last year, citing discomfort with accepting compensation from Saudi sources.
I was invited to the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which is something I obviously did not want to do.Yankovic reportedly said.They offered me, I’m not going to say how much, but it was seven figures to do one show, which is way more than I’ve ever been offered in my life to do a show.
The festival reportedly attracted about 6,000 attendees. Yankovic emphasized that he does not criticize other entertainers who decided to participate, acknowledging that they likely had personal reasons for accepting the offer.
But I just couldn’t be part of that,he continued.I’m doing enough that I don’t need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did.
Previously, Yankovic made news by refusing an offer to appear in an AI advertisement, again turning down a significant financial sum.
I wish people would offer me things that I didn’t feel bad about accepting,Yankovic told the Tribune-Review, referring to the AI ad.
Fox News Digital extensively reported on the comedy industry’s reaction to the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Some comedians faced criticism for choosing to perform there. “Real Time” host Bill Maher criticized Dave Chappelle for participating in the event.
Dave Chappelle … was in the press today saying that you can speak more freely over here than in America,Maher mentioned to fellow comedian Louis C.K., who also performed at the festival.
Host Jimmy Kimmel later confronted comedian Aziz Ansari about his performance at the festival, referring to the controversial killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
They murdered a journalist. These are not good people over there,Kimmel remarked.
Ansari defended his choice, explaining his intent to engage with the audience and spread ideas in the country, where a large portion of the population is young.