Comedy Fans Say Dave Chappelle Has Become A ‘Mouthpiece for the Oppressor Class’ Following Riyadh Comedy Festival

During his recent performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, Dave Chappelle declared that Saudi Arabia is a safer place for his freedom of speech than America, but that simply isn’t true — Chappelle is just as free to praise our own billionaire tyrants in any speech he chooses.

According to reporters who attended Chappelle’s performance at the Saudi Royal Family-funded comedy show last weekend, Chappelle complained about the state of free expression in America to a Saudi audience who could face torture and execution if they ever tweet a mean joke about their own government. Critically, the same Saudi Royal Family who paid Chappelle a small fortune to launder their international reputation have made a habit of murdering journalists and dissidents who speak out against their authoritarian rule, and all the performers at the Riyadh Comedy Festival had to sign a contract promising not to criticize the Saudi government, Saudi culture and Saudi religious practices.

However, since Chappelle felt no fear in making jokes about American politics during his overseas show, the self-branded free speech warrior declared to the crowd, “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.” Now, Chappelle’s former fans are wondering whether the comedian would sing similar praises of the Trump administration if the President was willing to open his checkbook, seeing as the comic’s integrity is apparently for sale to the most bloodthirsty bidder:

The backlash to Chappelle claiming that Saudi Arabia was a safer space for comedy than America wasn’t just contained to the comedy community on Twitter — in the comedy subreddit, thousands of stand-up fans slammed Chappelle’s hypocrisy and mocked how the comic spent the last five years leading up to Riyadh Comedy Festival pretending to be a martyr for free speech. 

In a mega-viral thread about Chappelle’s Riyadh performance, titled, “Legitimately, Fuck This Guy,” one particularly irate fan wrote, “Just ‘wow’ is all I can say. I’m sure it’s very nice of him to have all this privilege. Comedy is dead. It’s now just a mouth-piece for the oppressor class.”

“His fall from grace is pretty sad. Early 2000s Chappelle was incredible,” another former fan lamented.

One user concurred, “I knew the old Chappelle was gone for good when he brought Elon Musk on stage with him in San Francisco.”

Comedy fans were practically unanimous in expressing that, for all Chappelle’s posturing about free speech and the various social issues he mines for material, the uber-rich stand-up superstar is comically out-of-touch when it comes to how those topics affect average Americans who don’t get seven-figure offers to be flown out by billionaire despots.

“Chappelle was once a great voice speaking truth to power. Now he’s just a rich asshole getting high off his own supply,” one fan suggested. “If people say your jokes aren’t funny, that’s not censorship. That’s an invitation to tell better jokes.”

However, since Chappelle so often confuses criticism for censorship, perhaps his Riyadh visit could be a blessing in disguise, both for the comedian and for his former fans in America who are tired of his shtick. As one such fan suggested, “Since Saudi Arabia is so amazing and superior and a paradise of free speech, these comics should move there.”