Entertainment
Major U.S. comedians set to perform in Saudi Arabia urged not to help cover up “abuses of a repressive regime”
Some of the biggest American names in comedy have signed up to perform at a festival in Saudi Arabia, and they’re being urged to speak out against the country’s human rights abuses — and not to be “complicit in covering up the abuses of a repressive regime,” by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch organization.
Saudi Arabia will host the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which organizers say will be the “world’s largest comedy festival,” from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9. Some of North America’s most popular comedians, along with comics from Europe and elsewhere, are featured on the bill, including Dave Chapelle, Kevin Hart and Bill Burr.
The festival will be the latest in a series of sports and cultural events hosted by Saudi Arabia’s government that critics say amount to an effort to obscure the country’s reputation for rampant human rights abuses.
“The Saudi government has invested billions into high profile entertainment events like these in 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,” Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea told CBS News. “These investments are a part of the broader strategy to… have people thinking about a comedy event, for example, rather than the soaring number of executions that are happening inside of the country.”
HRW noted specifically the state execution of journalist Turki Al-Jasser, who was killed in June following seven years of detention after reportedly being identified as the author of several anonymous tweets criticizing the Saudi royal family.
Reporters Without Borders
Al-Jasser had been convicted of terrorism and high treason on the basis of posts he was accused of authoring, according to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. Reporters Without Borders, an organization that works to protect journalists, branded the charges against him as “false.”
“This execution of a journalist went forward to very little international criticism and this is clearly a result of these billions that had been invested in the country’s whitewashing strategy,” Shea said.
When asked whether they believed the comedians would be able to freely tell jokes at the festival, the HRW researcher predicted there would be clear red lines drawn by organizers to prevent any criticism of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who has already taken over as ruler of the highly conservative Islamic kingdom, as well as his policies and the broader royal family.
Win McNamee/Getty 
Shea called on the high-profile entertainers attending the event — funding for which comes from the Saudi government’s General Entertainment Authority — to mitigate the positive effect that their presence might have on the country’s reputation for human rights abuses, including by “speaking out about the abuses.”
Tom Dillon, one of the comedians scheduled to perform at the Riyadh festival, claimed on his podcast that he’s being paid $315,000 for a single show, and that some of his more famous colleagues would receive around $1.6 million for their appearances.
CBS News has contacted the publicists representing billed attendees Bill Burr, Mark Normand, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dave Chapelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Tom Segura, Andrew Schulz and Jim Jeffries, but has received no comment from any of them regarding their expected appearances in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh Comedy Festival 
CBS News asked Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on HRW’s assertions, but has not received a response.
One of the highest-profile cases of the Saudis’ purported efforts to change their image came 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.
Critics accused the golfers of helping the Saudi government to “sportswash” its reputation, only three years after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the county’s leadership, was brutally murdered inside a Saudi diplomatic office in Istanbul, Turkey.
A CIA report concluded with a medium to high degree of confidence that the killing was likely carried out at bin Salman’s orders.
In a 2019 interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, bin Salman denied ordering Khashoggi’s assassination, but said he took responsibility for it.
Demi Lovato just turned one of the internet’s oldest memes about her into a Halloween costume.
The singer, 33, took to Instagram on Thursday with photos and TikToks of herself dressed as “Poot Lovato,” a decade-old viral meme born from a poorly lit 2015 photo that fans jokingly claimed showed Lovato’s “long-lost twin locked in a basement.”
In the new photos, Lovato showed a recreated look, posting side-by-side photos of the original image and her costume. She also staged a spooky garage shoot, complete with dramatic shadows and a video of “Poot” screaming for help.
She kept the joke going with a TikTok “house tour,” showing off Poot’s simple “home,” complete with a water heater, bubble wrap, and cleaning supplies.
“Happy Halloween and happy one week of intd!!! Been so locked in this era thought I’d let Pootvato out,” Lovato captioned the post.
Her husband, Jutes, summed it up best in the comments. “Alright Halloween is over everyone. Pack it up. It belongs to Demi this year.”
Kathy Griffin says she immediately contacted Jimmy Kimmel “on day one” of his recent suspension from Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
The comedian, 64, recalled her own 2017 public fallout when she faced backlash for a photo showing her holding a fake severed head of Donald Trump and how Kimmel supported her at the time.
“It’s been triggering for me because Jimmy was the only one who still had me on his show when everyone else said I was too dangerous,” Griffin told People of the late night show host, whose ABC show was briefly pulled from the air in September after comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The show has since returned.
Griffin will launch her new comedy tour, New Face, New Tour—a nod to her recent facelift—on November 8 in Las Vegas, with dates running through May 2026.
“I change my act every night and always start with local jokes,” she said. “Once, I read out the local sex offender list during a show and had to run out of the theater. I called Cher after, and she just said, ‘Get home, bitch. Get back to Malibu.’”
Prince Andrew is being stripped of his titles and must surrender his lease to Royal Lodge, the mansion in Windsor where he lives, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,” the statement said. “Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.”
Andrew had recently said he would stop using his royal titles and honors, including the Duke of York, but Thursday’s statement on behalf of King Charles III and Queen Camilla initiated the formal process of revoking all his titles, including prince.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him,” the statement said.
Andrew has come under intense scrutiny over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and accusations from Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to engage in sex with the prince while she was underage. Andrew has denied the allegations. He reached a settlement with Giuffre in 2022. Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year.
“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse,” the statement said.
Giuffre’s family said Thursday in a statement provided to CBS News’ partner network BBC News, “Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family, brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage.”
“Today, she declares victory. We, her family, along with her survivor sisters, continue Virginia’s battle and will not rest until the same accountability applies to all of the abusers and abettors connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” said the statement sent on behalf of her brother, Sky Roberts, and sister-in-law, Amanda.
In a memoir published posthumously, Giuffre detailed her alleged encounters with Andrew.
“He was friendly enough, but still entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright,” she wrote. “The next morning, [Ghislaine] Maxwell told me: ‘You did well. The prince had fun.’ Epstein would give me $15,000 for servicing the man the tabloids called ‘Randy Andy.'”
In 2022, Andrew gave up his military affiliations, royal patronages and official public duties. He also stopped using the title “His Royal Highness.”
Andrew had faced heavy criticism from the British public over his living arrangements, with many voicing concern that he continued to live in his mansion on a royal estate despite the accusations leveled against him and his retreat from royal duties.
His 75-year lease for Royal Lodge, signed in 2003, included an up-front payment of around 8 million pounds (around $10.5 million) and an annual rent described as a “peppercorn,” meaning an extremely small amount, according to BBC News. Part of that payment was for renovations to the property, which at the time was in a state of disrepair, and Buckingham Palace felt that having Andrew pay the cost to upgrade the property was better than using public funds, BBC reported.
The lease had previously been referred to as “cast iron,” and Buckingham Palace said it needed to negotiate with Andrew in order to remove him, but did not provide further information about the details of those negotiations.
Buckingham Palace said Andrew will move out of the residence as soon as possible and will move to a property on the Sandringham estate, located about 100 miles north of London.
New Zealand’s apparel imports up 3.77% in Jan-Sept 2025
Rashford racism case: Fan facing €4K fine
US Fed cuts rate by 25 bps; economic outlook uncertainty high: FOMC
-
Politics6 days agoTrump slams ‘dirty’ Canada despite withdrawal of Reagan ad
-
Business1 week agoJLR shutdown after cyber hack drives slump in UK car production
-
Sports7 days agoAlleged mob ties in NBA scandal recall La Cosa Nostra’s long shadow over sports
-
Tech7 days agoDefect passivation strategy sets new performance benchmark for Sb₂S₃ solar cells
-
Tech1 week agoTurning pollution into clean fuel with stable methane production from carbon dioxide
-
Sports1 week agoPakistan, Saudi Arabia join hands to promote football development
-
Business1 week agoAssaults on rail network more than triple in 10 years
-
Sports1 week agoNBA legend Chauncey Billups, Heat’s Terry Rozier arrested as part of FBI gambling probe