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The stand-up comedy community and its legion of fans are currently in upheaval over some of its most popular and respected talents’ decision to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Though the country is in the midst of an alleged, socially progressive shift via its Vision 2030 project (which also aims to make the Kingdom less reliant on oil production by building up its tech, sports, and entertainment industries), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saad threw a spanner in the works seven years ago by allegedly ordering the brutal assassination<\/a> of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi for the grave offense of having fiercely criticized the Crown Prince in print. Since then, more dissidents have been jailed and, on occasion, executed<\/a>, while the country continues to engage in slavery under the kafala system<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia’s treatment of its citizens is “abysmal.” This hasn’t stopped some of the top golfers in the world from joining the Kingdom’s LIV Golf Tour or World Wrestling Entertainment, now a Netflix-streamed organization<\/a>, from allowing the country to host WrestleMania 43 in 2027. The wealth is undeniable. Their ambition must be taken seriously. But can artists and athletes take their money in good conscience? It depends on who you’re talking to, and, perhaps, how much they got paid.<\/p>\n The Riyadh Comedy Festival, which runs from September 26 to October 8, assembled a hugely impressive roster of world-famous comedic talent. If you threw an event like this in the United States, the combined likes of Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari, Jim Jefferies, Hannibal Buress, Whitney Cummings, etc. could easily pack the Rose Bowl. Saudi Arabia understood this and, according to Time<\/a>, offered comics anywhere between $300,000 and $1.6 million to do what was likely an hour-long set. Was it worth it?<\/p>\n