Dave Chappelle addressed the criticism he faced for performing at a comedy festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2025 during a conversation with NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
Chappelle acknowledged that he had been invited to Saudi Arabia years earlier but initially declined because of concerns surrounding the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence agencies attributed to the Saudi government.
“They asked me to go years before that, and I said no for that very reason,” he told Inskeep.
What changed over time, he explained, was his perspective on the reality of how American institutions interact with the kingdom.
“Since that time, the United States government does business with the Saudis. Netflix does business with the Saudis. The Saudis financed tons of movies,” he said. “I see them financing boxing matches and all these things, and none of these things were an issue until I went there.”
Chappelle did not hold back in describing how he interpreted the criticism directed specifically at him, framing it as selective outrage.
“As soon as a black man can make money off the plantation, they try to tell you that the money is dirty,” he said. “I’ll go home and spend the money with actual slave owners on it. Where is this clean money you’re talking about?”
He also reflected on the history of comedy in Saudi Arabia, noting that stand-up had existed in a limited, underground form for years before the government began allowing public performances.
“The jokes were like contraband,” he said. “These shows would happen in people’s homes. They would happen in embassies.”
When he finally performed for a public audience in Riyadh, Chappelle said the crowd’s reaction was unlike anything he had experienced before, describing a sense of novelty and excitement among attendees.
“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. “If I had choked a tiger out, they couldn’t have been more impressed. They were screaming.”
Chappelle framed his decision to perform there not as a political endorsement of the Saudi government but as an effort to connect with ordinary people through comedy. He argued that moral purity in global commerce is difficult to maintain in practice.
“If you want to be that pure about money, then stop driving your car, stop eating, don’t use your cell phone,” he said. “Everything is tethered to something that’s just terrible.”
Despite the controversy, he said the experience of performing for that audience ultimately convinced him he had made the right decision.
“I can make a million excuses or reasons to deprive that crowd of that show,” he said. “But man, when I was standing in front of them, I feel like I did the right thing.”
Chappelle also pushed back on the idea that performing in Saudi Arabia amounted to validating the government, arguing instead that cultural exchange between people should not be dictated solely by political tensions.
“Our governments are going to ruin everything for us,” he said. “We will never get to know each other if we just do everything that they want to do or function on the terms that they want us to function.”
