Jeff Ross Defends The Riyadh Comedy Festival As If Anyone’s Surprised He Went

Roastmaster General Jeff Ross is pushing back on criticism of the American comedians who took part in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which begs the question: Who was the Jeff Ross fan that decided this is where they draw the line?

Back in late September, many of America’s most popular comedians (and Chris Distefano) flew to Saudi Arabia to perform in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which the Saudi Royal Family personally funded, organized and attended. Each participant in the event had to agree to a laundry list of content restrictions, namely a moratorium on making any jokes about their royal hosts, their country or their culture, and, in exchange, they each received a fat check engorged with blood money – as well as a massive hit on their public image stateside.

Riyadh performers such as Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle were lightning rods for American outrage over the Riyadh festival, as many of the comics’ fans accused them of shameless hypocrisy after presenting themselves as truth-speakers and iconoclasts for so many decades. However, when the average American comedy fan saw Ross’ face on the Riyadh Comedy Festival poster, their reaction was probably just, “Yeah, that makes sense – a gig is a gig.”

Nevertheless, during a panel at the New York Comedy Festival, Ross ranted about how noble it was for him and his buddies to go on a lucrative mission trip a corner of the world that had never before witnessed the splendor of Western insult comedy. Ross even called the event “life-affirming,” so long as that life doesn't belong to a journalist or a New York City firefighter.

“I went to the Riyadh Comedy Festival. As soon as I landed, there was a 16-year-old kid with his mom waiting for me at my hotel,” Ross said of his experience in Saudi Arabia. “I was like, ‘This is exactly why I came here.’ Not to perform for some royal people that I’ll never meet that didn’t come to my show, but for the fans.” 

Ross moralized, “To turn our backs on the fans who were looking to hear some American culture… to me, that’s comedy diplomacy. That’s why I’m on this Earth.”

When a fellow panelist suggested that accepting exorbitant sums of money from the Saudi Royal Family to help the bloodthirsty billionaire despots launder their reputation might have put a price tag on the participating comics' principles, Ross pushed back. “Why is it selling your soul? Kevin Hart gets paid great no matter where he goes. He’s got to want to go,” Ross said.

“People want change until someone actually tries to do something,” Ross continued, “If we turn our backs on an entire culture of people, then they go the other way. They’ll go toward Iran, they won’t come toward the West. Nothing heals better than people from different worlds laughing at the same things.”

As many comedy fans pointed out in the wake of Ross' comments, his high-minded justification for accepting a massive check from an authoritarian regime responsible for ruling the slavery capital of the world is exactly as hollow, hypocritical and self-fellating as every other Riyadh comic's defense. Even if Ross says that he didn't care whether or not the royals attended his show, he would never have performed in Riyadh, spread the gospel of roast comedy and collected a huge payday if not for their patronage and deep pockets.

As for the claim that Ross somehow healed a divided world by bringing his comedy to the Saudi capital – well, that's about as likely as the president of Universal Pictures personally casting Ross as the lead in the next Wicked movie.

Honestly, we'd almost respect Ross if he just admitted that, given his extremely limited offerings as a performer, he has to take any fat check that comes his way, and performing in the Saudi Royal Family's whitewashing festival wasn't really all that different from his experience at the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump.