“I stand up for your right to be religious. But please know that you’re wrong … you’re living in a fantasy land, and after you die nothing happens, stop being a fucking child.” The words of Jim Jefferies there, the riotous Australian-American comedian whose work delights in smashing taboos, offending and outraging, saying the unsayable. Sex, politics, religion, faeces: nothing is beyond the pale. And as such, there was a good deal of expectation over his headline set at the inaugural Riyadh comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, which came to an end on 9 October. What sacred cows would he slay? Who would feel the wrath of his cold, veiny truth?
Alas, Jefferies appeared to have been disinvited from the Riyadh comedy festival after comments he made on a recent podcast about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Even though the gist of said comments was that he wasn’t too fussed about the killing either way. “Unfortunate, but not a fucking hill that I’m going to die on,” were his exact words. To no avail. Cancelled again, this time by one of the richest regimes on Earth. These days, you can’t even describe the extrajudicial murder of a journalist in an embassy as unfortunate. What kind of woke hellscape are we creating for our children?
