American Al -Hazli Tim Delon says that Saudi Arabia launched it from the comedy festival on jokes about slavery

American comedian Tim Delon says he was dropped from the Festival of Athletes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to the observations he made about the country’s alleged use of forced work.

Delon was one of many Prominent American comedians In what the organizers promised will be the “largest comedy festival in the world”, in the Saudi capital for his leadership, starting on Friday.

Among the other big names that were appointed to the performance of Bill Poor and Dave Chapel and Kevin Hart.

in episode From his podcasts, which was released on the Internet on September 20, the comedian said it was “launched” from the festival because of the jokes that had previously led to the alleged use of Forced work in the conservative Islamic Kingdom.

“They heard what I said about the presence of slaves,” Delon remembers his manager who told him in a previous conversation, in the podcast. “They didn’t like it.”

“I addressed it in a funny way, and they released me,” he said. “Certainly, I was not attending in your country and insulting the people who pay me money.”

The notes referred to were part of a previous podcast episode, which was broadcast on August 30, where Delon has repeatedly joking about the alleged slavery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and his decision to accept the payment of $ 375,000 for his performance at the Raydead Festival.

CBS News was unable to independently verify this number, and Delon representatives did not respond to requests to comment on his contract with the Saudi government festival, or remove him from it.

Programs did not benefit from Bill Poor, Mark Normand, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Mancalo, Dave Chaplin, Louis CK. And Whitney Camings, Tom Sigura, Andrew Schulz and Jim Jeffrez – all of them on the festival bill – also for previous CBS news requests for comment.

The comedy festival will be the latest in a series of major sporting and cultural events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which critics say is part of a concerted effort to turn attention from human rights issues in the Kingdom.

It was one of the most prominent examples in 2021, with the launch of LIV GOLF, a golf league that witnessed a experienced defect in the famous PGA tour for very profitable contracts.

Joy Xia, a Human Rights Watch researcher in the United States, claims that the CBS News Festival was “a deliberate effort to whiten the country’s human rights record and deviate from the terrible violations that are still taking place inside the country.”

CBS News told that Western comedians should use their platform to attract attention to the Saudi human rights record in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to avoid “collusion in covering up the violations of a repressive system.”

CBS News asked the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comment on HRW assurances, but it did not receive a response.