637
US comedians defend decision to play in Saudi Arabia: ‘They’re paying me enough to look the other way’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
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Burr being on that list surprises me, but it said he’s also been to UAE. Davidson is pissing on his father’s grave.
Exactly.
Greedy fucks, all of them.
Dave Chappelle, Louie CK, and Aziz Ansari were all on the list of comedians.
Cancelling isn't really a thing.
Well, it is a thing but it's also an integral part of being human rather than a "culture" that's somehow new. The difference is that it's a power wielded by the people now rather than tastemakers putting people on a blacklist.
Another thing that's happening with people that are "cancelled" is that they immediately get offered to join a group of "cancelled" public figures who bond over being disgusting pariahs and rebuild their careers by grifting to the right. Andrew Callaghan of channel 5 news (also All Gas No Brakes) talks about getting a job offer from InfoWars just a week after the sexual assault allegations against him went public. They anticipated he would respond by rebranding as "anti cancel culture" like so many others rather than admit fault and make a genuine effort to improve.
For those unaware of what happened with Andrew Callaghan, he had a habit of getting drunk and then pressuring/coercing women into having sex. His response was not perfect IMO, but he did confess that he had a problem and sobered up, which is more than can be said of most "victims of cancel culture."
It never was. It was always a juvenile response to criticism.
Out of all of the comedians asked only TWO had enough integrity to turn the offer down.
Who?
Shane Gillis and Stavros Halkias were the only two that turned it down as far as I know.
Mike Birbiglia apparently turned it down, but didn't make a big deal out of it.
There's no way that Nate Bargatze and John Mulaney didn't get offers. I have to assume they turned it down based on the fact they didn't go.
Do you know if they turned it down for moral or ethical reasons or if they only turned it down because they already had a schedule conflict?
I can't find it now but FWIW I just saw a video earlier today where Shane Gillis was dicsussing this. His reaction (at least in retrospect) was "You mean the 9/11 guys? No thank you".
Well I guess I don’t know for sure but based on their general reactions to other people doing the show it sure seems like they turned it down for moral or ethical reasons.