Dave Chappelle defends his Saudi Arabia festival appearance: ‘I feel like I did the right thing’

The comedian spoke about how the crowd reaction from fans in Saudi Arabia and how “time and circumstance” justified his decision to perform in the country.

Dave Chappelle is doubling down on his decision to perform in Saudi Arabia despite the backlash.

The 52-year-old comedian told NPR on Wednesday (April 15) that his experience with comedy shows in Middle Eastern countries — from the lively crowd reaction to meeting other comedians from the region — made him feel that his choice was worth it.

“That crowd watching that comedy — the first time the government let them even see something like this, it was like a baby tasting sugar, he said about the festival. “That must’ve felt incredibly cathartic if you can’t say everything you want to say, but you see somebody model that behavior.”  

“If you think of all the violence and all the things we export to the Middle East, I think our culture is the best export we got,” he said, adding, “I didn’t feel wrong being up there.”

Chappelle, along with other famous comedians like Gabriel Iglesias, Aziz Ansari, and Wayne Brady, faced criticism for their decision to participate in the Riyadh Comedy Festival last September, which the Saudi government sponsored. One of the biggest critics was the organization Human Rights Watch, which said that the comedians in the lineup for the festival were complicit in the country’s “brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”

Chappelle said that though he previously refused to perform in the country, “time and circumstance” and the “wheels of commerce” had changed his mind.

“They asked me to go years before that and I said no for that very reason,” he said, referring to the Saudi Arabia state-sponsored murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. “Since that time, the United States government does business with the Saudis, Netflix does business with the Saudis. Everyone. The Saudis finance tons of movies.”

He continued, arguing the reaction to his participation in the show was hypocritical.

“None of these things were an issue until I went there. Now, why is that? Soon as a Black man can make money off the plantation, they try to tell you the money is dirty. Well, OK, I’ll go home and spend the money with actual slave owners on it. Where is this clean money you’re talking about?” 

The comedy star, who is currently considering a reboot of his venerated sketch series, “Chappelle’s Show,” after previously turning down the idea, elaborated that he has no regrets about performing at the Saudi comedy festival because no one can be “pure about money.”

“Time and the wheels of commerce kept turning. If you want to be that pure about money, then stop driving your car, stop eating, don’t use your cell phone… everything is tethered to something that’s just terrible,” he said. “And I can make a million excuses or reasons to deprive that crowd of that show, but man, when I was standing in front of them, I feel like I did the right thing.”