1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 2: Welcome to a very special episode of It Could Happen Here, 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 2: reporting live from the sunny beaches of Riad. I'm Garrison 4 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 2: Davis this episode joined by Mia Wong, James Stout and 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 2: presenting our special report, Robert Evans. 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 3: I am so happy to talk about our favorite time 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 3: of the year, which is of course the Riod Comedy Festival, 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 3: which occurs from September twenty sixth to October ninth. 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:34,840 Speaker 4: It's the highlight of my year each year. 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 3: Ye happy to say all of Cool Zone will be 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 3: there performing in Riod, immediately getting arrested. It's gonna be 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 3: really good, very much excited, like all of your comedy favorites. 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 3: Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, asas End. Sorry, we will be 14 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 3: getting paid hundreds of thousands or over a million dollars 15 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 3: to pretend that the Saudi regime does not execute dissidence reporters, 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 3: civil rights activists, whoever, and doesn't run a torture prison. 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 4: Yeah. 18 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 3: So that that's what's happening this week. There's been a 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 3: big backlash against a bunch of very prominent comedians. 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 4: Louis c k. It looks like a mix of. 21 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 3: Guy Okay, not surprised David Chappelle. I'm surprised that old 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 3: David Chappelle would do this, but I'm not surprised that 23 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 3: current David Chappelle would do this. 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 4: Bilbert is disappointing. Bilbert is disappointing that one hurts. 25 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 3: Moe Amer, who is a Palestinian American comedian who lives 26 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 3: in Houston, has also agreed to go to Riad and 27 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 3: form not great. 28 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,839 Speaker 2: Comrade Shane Gillis declined the offer. 29 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 5: Yeah shee. 30 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 3: Gillis said yes and then said no. Let's be real 31 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 3: fucking clear on what Shane Gillis did. Okay, I believe 32 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 3: he's the one that said yes and then said no. 33 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 3: You get you get a variety of responses from people 34 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 3: who were invited to this fucking thing. And I'll make 35 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 3: it clear kind of where my moral line stands. I 36 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 3: don't actually believe it's inherently wrong to perform inside the 37 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 3: bounds of any country. It kind of depends on what 38 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 3: you're doing and how you do it, and this is 39 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 3: the wrong way to do it, because these are not 40 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 3: just people. If someone had just shown up at a 41 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 3: nightclub in Saudi Arabia to do a stand up set, 42 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 3: I don't particularly care about that, even though there are 43 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 3: lesma jest laws, Like I wouldn't care if someone did 44 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 3: a stand up comedy set that couldn't make fun of 45 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 3: the King of Thailand, right, which is a crime in Thailand. 46 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 4: Yeah. 47 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 3: You know, people perform in parts of the world that 48 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 3: have different or bad laws. The US has bad laws. 49 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 3: We do bad things. I don't think it's inherently evil 50 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 3: to just perform at a random club there, which is 51 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 3: not what the people who are performing at the Odd 52 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 3: Comedy Festival are doing. This whole convention is being put 53 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 3: on by a guy named Turkey, I'll shake. Turkey is 54 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 3: the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, which is a 55 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 3: Saudi government department. He grew up with Mohammad Ben Salmon 56 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 3: playing League of Legends, and it's kind of like key 57 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 3: to Ben Salmon's planned makes Saudi Arabia cool to like 58 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 3: bring it into the global entertainment and like social network 59 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 3: without modernizing its laws or allowing people to, you know, 60 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 3: make fun of Mohammed Ben Salmon or his friends. For 61 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 3: an idea of the kind of dude who hired Bill 62 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 3: Burr and all of these other guys and paid them 63 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 3: so much money. There is an entire wing of the 64 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 3: all Higher prison called the Tutu Wing, which references all 65 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 3: Shake's nickname Tutu, where prisoners that he specifically pointed out, 66 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 3: often people who made fun of him or made jokes 67 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 3: that he did not appreciate, are put in tortured. This 68 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 3: guy has an entire torture prison named after him. That 69 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 3: is who's writing checks to fucking Pete Davidson, whose dad 70 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 3: died in Night eleven. Ah fuck, it's fucking shocking the 71 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 3: fact that Pete Davidson is at this thing, and he 72 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 3: has been He's been like questioned about it, and his answer, basically, 73 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 3: I'll say this for Pete, was basically like, yeah, but 74 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 3: there's a lot of money, right. And I'm separating in 75 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 3: my head to a degree. I think it's bad to 76 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 3: take money from the Saudi government to do something like 77 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 3: this that is being used to like whitewash their human 78 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 3: rights record to make them look like a cool part 79 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,119 Speaker 3: of global society, even as they this week executed another journalist. 80 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 3: I think that's bad. I think it's worse if you're 81 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 3: someone who stood for something. This doesn't change my opinion 82 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 3: about THEO Vaughn, who sucks and it's like, yeah, he'll 83 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 3: take money from Saudi Arabia. He's a huge asshole. I'm 84 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 3: not surprised, right, And there's some other guys in this 85 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 3: that I'm not necessarily like shocked about. 86 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 6: Did you see Theovon's beef with Ice this week? 87 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 5: Oh? Does theovon have beef with Ice this week? 88 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 4: Yeah? 89 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 6: They use video of him without his consent in one 90 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 6: of their marketing videos. 91 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 4: Yeah. Great so. 92 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 3: Jim Jeffries on August one on Theovon's podcast to talk 93 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 3: about agreeing to do this show, and he said one 94 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 3: reporter was killed by the government. Unfortunate, but not a 95 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 3: fucking hill that I'm gonna die on, and argued that 96 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 3: freedom of speech machines like himself would do good by, like, 97 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 3: you know, making jokes in Saudi Arabia and key in 98 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 3: the men on the freedom of speech thing. Basically, it'll 99 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 3: be a net positive for freedom if I go speak 100 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 3: at this thing. And then the funniest possible follow up, 101 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 3: he was removed from the festival lineup because he acknowledged 102 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 3: that they killed a reporter and you can't even do 103 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 3: that on your own fucking podcast or fucking theo vod's 104 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 3: goddamn podcast. I want to play a video clip of 105 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 3: Tim Dillon, because Tim Dillon is another guy who agreed 106 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 3: to show up and perform at this this fucking nightmare event. 107 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 3: And Dylan is why we know kind of how much 108 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 3: money is on the table at this thing, because he 109 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 3: has said that he was paid three hundred and seventy 110 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 3: five thousand. He was offered three hundred and seventy five 111 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 3: thousand for one performance to be there. He said that 112 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 3: kind of the lowest number people were being offered was 113 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 3: about one hundred and fifty thousand, and the most like 114 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 3: highly paid people were being offered up to one point 115 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 3: six million dollars. So I mean it's possible see people 116 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 3: were geting more than that, but I'm guessing that's closer 117 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 3: to like where the Bill Burr's than the Dave Chappelle's 118 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 3: you are getting right like in the one point six million. 119 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,679 Speaker 3: So these guys were offered an insane amount of money. 120 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 3: And Tim Dillon went on and like talked about this 121 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 3: on a podcast, talked about like why he agreed to 122 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 3: do it, and defended and it's very funny. He like 123 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 3: brought up like slavery in Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia 124 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,600 Speaker 3: has slaves, as a way to like to segue into 125 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 3: a defense of why it's fine for him to do this, 126 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 3: and this is just one of the funniest things I've 127 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 3: ever heard. 128 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 4: Well, they have slaves, then they kill everyone. Hey hey, hey, hey, heyy. 129 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 7: Get over it. Get over it? So what, so what 130 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 7: they have slaves? So what. 131 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 4: My friend, I not a friend, somebody I don't even know. 132 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 7: I bumped them and Tribeca and he goes, I would 133 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 7: never do that because I don't want to interact with slaves. 134 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 4: I'm like, well why not. 135 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 7: They'd be deferential, right, I mean, I imagine the slaves 136 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 7: in those countries are good at what they do. 137 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 5: Okay, so that's that's the clip I just wanted to. 138 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 3: One of the most Yeah, and it got him fired 139 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 3: from the show. He's good bending them, he's big, like 140 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 3: slavery is not so bad, and he's still got fired. 141 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 4: That's that's like, Yeah, it's nuts. 142 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 8: Oh my god, Like. 143 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 4: It's really bad. 144 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 2: To cleanse our minds of whatever that was. Here's an 145 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 2: ad break. Okay, we're back, Robert. 146 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 3: The degree to which everyone involved in that has just 147 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 3: nuked whatever credibility they had is shocking. I want to 148 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 3: read you a quote from Bill Burr in January of twenty. 149 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 4: Ten to make me sad. 150 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 3: This is from a set he did at the time. 151 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 3: This him talking about Beyonce. She's out there singing about 152 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 3: girl power, telling you to put a ring on it, 153 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 3: all that crap. 154 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 5: And then what she does. 155 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 3: She takes a million bucks to go sing at some 156 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 3: private party for Kaddafi's kid, Momar Kadaffi, you know, the 157 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 3: guy who's been blowing stuff up and running a dictatorship forever. Like, 158 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 3: what the hell You're gonna jet off to Saint Bart 159 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 3: shake your ass for some terrorist dictator's family, pawking a million, 160 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 3: and then go back to preaching about empowerment. Come on, man, 161 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 3: that's the hypocrisy of this whole thing. These celebrities, they'll 162 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 3: take any gig if the check's big enough. It's like, Oh, 163 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 3: I'm all about the people, until some crazy dictator weaves 164 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 3: a stack of cash and then it's where's my private jet? 165 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 5: It's ridiculous. 166 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 4: This nuts, Yes, Bill, it is. This sucks. 167 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 2: This sucks to be a Bill Bard defender for you. 168 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 2: I notice, truly the first, the first, the first actual 169 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 2: stain on Bill Bear's legacy. 170 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 4: It's a very good comedian, that's what her remarkable. Fucking 171 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 4: stain cold comedians are evil. It's just it's that easy. 172 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 3: He addressed, it's you know, part of it is that 173 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 3: and if all. Unfortunately, I kind of think the response 174 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 3: of some of the scumbags in comedy has been fair 175 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 3: with it. Just like, man, it was too much money. 176 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 3: It's just a shitload of money. Like I'll do fucked 177 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 3: up shit for a crazy amount of money, and it's 178 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,359 Speaker 3: like that's bad, but at least you're honest. Bill's response 179 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 3: to this was like, it was great to experience that 180 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 3: part of the world, to be part of the first 181 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 3: comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia. The royals loved 182 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,839 Speaker 3: the show. Everybody one was happy. The people that were 183 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 3: doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that I've been 184 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 3: talking to are saying, dude, you can feel that the 185 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 3: audience wanted it. They wanted to see real stand up comedy. 186 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 3: It was a mind blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences 187 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 3: I've had. I think it's going to lead to a 188 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 3: lot of positive things now. He did talk a little 189 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 3: bit about like the rules that they had to bye bye, 190 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 3: and said that like when they were first handing around contracts, 191 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,079 Speaker 3: he pushed back and was like or people pushed back, 192 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 3: or like comedians didn't, were like, you can't have all 193 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 3: these restrictions, and that they whittled them down to just 194 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 3: a couple of things, which Bill sums up as don't 195 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 3: make fun of Royal's religion right now, as pointed out 196 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 3: by the fact that Tim Dillon got canceled for talking 197 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 3: positively about slavery and the Kingdom, there were more restrictions 198 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 3: than that. I do want to read from a Hollywood 199 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 3: Reporter article talking about like Bill's response to this, because 200 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 3: it gets even worse than what I've read already. Bill 201 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 3: first described going to the island country of Bahrain, which 202 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 3: is more socially liberal than Saudi Arabia, where a customs 203 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 3: agent immediately clocked his anxiety about doing stand up in 204 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 3: the region and gave him grief about it. When I 205 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 3: was landing in Bahrain, like I'm fucking nervous, right, and 206 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 3: then the agent says, you tell jokes about the Middle East, 207 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 3: you think you're going to come over here and get beheaded. 208 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 3: Right After a successful show in Bahrain, Burr was at 209 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 3: a bar where he was watching interactions among locals and decided, 210 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 3: I'm like, they're just like us. I don't speak the language, 211 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 3: but I get it. When he flew to Saudi Arabia, 212 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 3: Burr's nervousness crept back, but he was struck by the 213 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 3: amount of local Western influence. You think everyone's going to 214 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 3: be screaming death to America and they're going to have 215 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 3: fucking machetes and want to chop my head off, right, 216 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:52,079 Speaker 3: because this is what I've been fed about that part 217 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 3: of the world. I thought this place was going to 218 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 3: be really tense, and I'm thinking, like, is that a 219 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 3: Starbucks next to a Pieza Hut, next to a Burger 220 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 3: King next to McDonald's. 221 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 5: They've got a fucking. 222 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 3: Chilis And yes, man, they have stores in the Middle 223 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 3: East you can buy and have. 224 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 8: Restaurants that specific combination of countries like the Saudis. The 225 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 8: reason the current government of Raid is in power is 226 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,959 Speaker 8: because the Saudis rolled tanks across the border to cross 227 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 8: the uprising. There were twenty eleven like hideous. 228 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 3: There's so much that's fucked up just being like, well 229 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 3: to prepare for abiding by the laws of the fucking 230 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 3: royal family. 231 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 5: Of Saudi Arabia. 232 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 3: I went to Bahrain like like that, They're not. 233 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 6: The same place, no, Like, yeah, I wanted to check 234 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 6: out some brown Muslim people. Turns out that people like 235 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 6: that seems to be the gist of what he's saying, 236 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 6: and they like pizza too. 237 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 4: Fuck me. 238 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 3: You could go to again like Iraq and perform in 239 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 3: fucking uh. You could go to an ideal and it's nice, 240 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,079 Speaker 3: and it's nice, and you're not going to be performing 241 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 3: at the behest of the fucked up government. Right, You'll 242 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 3: just be performing in a country with the fucked up government. 243 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 3: And there is a difference. Right, I'm not angry at 244 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 3: the idea that some rando might like perform at a 245 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,439 Speaker 3: nightclub in Saudi Arabia. The problem is that you're performing 246 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 3: at the behest of the Saudi government, at the behest 247 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 3: of the regime. 248 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a different thing. 249 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 3: I do think there's an argument for like, well, people 250 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 3: in countries with fucked up governments deserve to laugh. That 251 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,839 Speaker 3: doesn't mean you have to take the money from their 252 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 3: fucked up government and say nice things about their fucked 253 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 3: up government like Kevin Hart just did. Because Kevin Hart 254 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 3: was also a part of this show, and he posted 255 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 3: a video on TikTok talking about how fucking awesome Saudi 256 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 3: Royal Turkey Al Shake is and Turkey al Shak has 257 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 3: now been sharing that video on all of his social 258 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 3: media accounts, Like you're holding water for people for a 259 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 3: guy he was a wing in a torture prison named 260 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 3: after him, that crosses a line for me. You know, 261 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,200 Speaker 3: when we're talking about entertainment, we're talking about being ad 262 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 3: support all this stuff. There's compromises that everyone makes in 263 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 3: this business. There's compromises in what company you fucking work with, 264 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 3: right Like, if you're talking about, you know, make it 265 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 3: a TV show for Amazon's TV division or Disney's you 266 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 3: know fucking streaming division, right, Well, there's there's a degree 267 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 3: of moral compromise there. And I think, depending on what 268 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 3: you're doing and whatnot, can be justified by the fact 269 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 3: that number one, like that's just the way television works. 270 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,680 Speaker 3: There's no working with anyone completely clean in a company 271 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 3: that has the ability to fund, you know, a production 272 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 3: like that, but taking money directly from the hands of 273 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 3: the guy with the torture prison, I think that crosses 274 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:25,960 Speaker 3: a line. I think that crosses the line for a 275 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 3: free speech activist. It should across the line for Pete Davidson, 276 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 3: who's dad died at nine. 277 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 4: To eleven, but she's apparently not. That is a wild one. 278 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,280 Speaker 4: That's the craziest one to. 279 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 3: Me, that Kate Davidson went over to Saudi Arabia. 280 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 4: Oh man, are you gonna what? It's just mom sit 281 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:45,680 Speaker 4: on the scene. 282 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 3: Oh man, she's probably getting a lot of money if 283 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 3: she is, So it's fine. 284 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 4: It's fine. 285 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 5: I don't know like how much. 286 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 3: And it is one of those things I get the 287 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 3: people who are like, okay, but you know, the US 288 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 3: is fucked up to and it is. And so if 289 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 3: somebody is getting paid directly by the Trump regime to 290 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 3: perform at the White House, I'd say, pretty fucked up. 291 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 3: But like that doesn't mean it's immoral to perform at 292 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 3: like a nightclub in fucking Chicago, you know. 293 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 6: Yeah, And none of us are going to Guantanamo Bay 294 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 6: to like entertain the fucking prison guards, right, Like. 295 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, hopefully none of us will be going to 296 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 2: Guantanamo Bay for any reason. As long as we keep 297 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 2: playing these ads, we're back. 298 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 8: I want to talk about this from the Saudi perspective, 299 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 8: because they have been doing really for the last half 300 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 8: a decade a fallout pr blitz. Right, We've seen this 301 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 8: in WWE. We've seen this with a whole bunch of 302 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 8: professional sports stuff, like most of the esports is run 303 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 8: out of the Sports World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Now, 304 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 8: like the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund just helped Jared Kushner 305 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 8: buy EA, right, just like one of the largest video 306 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 8: game companies in the world. Right, they've been you know, 307 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 8: they've been doing this sort of whole sportswashing strategy of 308 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 8: using these things to sort of normalize, normalize the regime. 309 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 8: And I think the actual genius of this, right was 310 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 8: not that you can buy legitimacy with like sports and 311 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 8: with comedians. The genius of it was that they were 312 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 8: able to control the backlash because they ensured the backlash 313 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 8: to it would be done by sports journalists and entertainment 314 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 8: journalists who don't know anything about the Saudis and thus 315 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 8: assumed that the Saudis were attempting to whitewash their you know, 316 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 8: horrific domestic human rights record, and they were to some extent, 317 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 8: But even focusing on the Saudis domestic human rights record 318 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 8: is a victory for the Saudist because it means that 319 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 8: nobody's talking about the stuff people were talking about last 320 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 8: decade when they talked about the Saudis, which was things like, 321 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 8: for example, the Sudanese child soldiers that they were deploying 322 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 8: in their warren Yemen, and these Sudanese child soldiers were 323 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 8: drawn from their connections bolstered by the UAE to the 324 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 8: Sudanese Appid Support Forces, a group that is almost entirely 325 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 8: composed of the militias who did the genocide in Darfour. 326 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 8: So these are the ground troops that they're deploying in Yemen. 327 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 8: Are Assudanese child soldiers drawn from the people who did 328 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 8: the genocide in Darfour in twenty eighteen, which was not 329 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 8: that long ago, like I remember twenty eighteen. So do 330 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 8: you statistically if you're listening to the show, they carried 331 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 8: out an airstrike on a school bus that killed twenty 332 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 8: six children, right, no one is talking about the air 333 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 8: strikes on funerals that they absolutely love to do, like, 334 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 8: for example, there was a huge one in twenty sixteen 335 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 8: where they killed one hundred and forty people in one 336 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 8: air strike, after which the area was described by a 337 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 8: rescue worker as a quote lake of blood. And this 338 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 8: has been the really successful thing about about the Saudi 339 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 8: specifically targeting sports and specifically targeting entertainment, is that the 340 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 8: people covering this do not know anything about Saudi Arabia, right. 341 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 8: And this is also partially what was going on Bill Burv, 342 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 8: because they're just racists or their attempt could do a backlash, 343 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 8: and they're trying to do a backlash with things like Okay, 344 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 8: they killed a journalist, which is really bad, right, But 345 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:06,240 Speaker 8: like Jamal Kashoggi was one guy out of thousands and 346 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 8: thousands and thousands of people that they were killing and 347 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 8: are continuing to kill to this day in Yemen. 348 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:12,200 Speaker 1: Right. 349 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 8: And this is one of the reasons people have been 350 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 8: able to get away with this, right, is that no 351 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:17,919 Speaker 8: one has been walking up to them and going what 352 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 8: do you think about the Sudanese child soldiers? Because nobody 353 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 8: knows about any of that. And this is one of 354 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 8: the thing that I want to just say at the 355 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 8: end of this, which is I know for a fact 356 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 8: that journalists and editors listen to this show, and please, 357 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 8: for the love of God, find someone who knows literally 358 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 8: anything about the Saudis war. And Yemen and have them 359 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 8: write this piece on sportswashing for you, literally anyone. This 360 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 8: is what this is what makes me insane about all 361 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 8: this coverage is that like, if you even a little 362 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 8: bit paid attention to what they were doing in the 363 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 8: twenty tens and what they're continuing to do now in Yemen, 364 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 8: you know about so many even I'm not even I'm 365 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 8: not even talking about the starvation genocide here. There are 366 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 8: so many things that they did, you know, And like 367 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 8: one of the common defenses is like, oh, like you know, 368 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 8: like we live in the US as a fucked up country, right, 369 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 8: Like who cares about authoritarianism? Just like I don't know, 370 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 8: it's hard to make that argument when it's about Sudanese 371 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 8: child soldiers. 372 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 3: Well, and it's just again, we're not pissed because some 373 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,679 Speaker 3: guy performed at a nightclub in Riyad. It's it's that 374 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 3: you're taking money from the government to whitewash the government. 375 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,239 Speaker 8: No, it's because they took money for the governments. All 376 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 8: of these, all of these things, all of these all 377 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 8: of like wwe like all of these sports events, these 378 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 8: are funded directly by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, which 379 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 8: is the Wealth Fund of the Saudi government, the people 380 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 8: who were dropping bombs on school buses and sending child 381 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 8: soldiers to fight their warren gemmen. 382 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 6: Yeah, there has been some good reporting on sportswashing. I 383 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 6: would say, like Ian Trello's done some excellent stuff. 384 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 3: The Guardian has a good article on this where they 385 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 3: really coalate some of like the very worst responses, written 386 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 3: by Seth Simon. So I liked that this does seem 387 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 3: to be blowing up. Hollywood Reporter's piece was pretty good too. 388 00:18:57,160 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 6: Hollywood Report to my friend with the editor of that 389 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,359 Speaker 6: publication for years may have consistently done some stuff that 390 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 6: you wouldn't expect looking at the title of publication. 391 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,679 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not going to be silly enough to be like, 392 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 3: I think this is going to cost any of these 393 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,719 Speaker 3: people their career because it's I don't think it is. 394 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 3: But it does seem to be causing them some embarrassment, 395 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 3: So I don't know. 396 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean they get called out on it, shamed 397 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,439 Speaker 6: like it's yeah, it's a pretty shameful thing to do. 398 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 5: It's a shameful thing to do. It's a bummer. 399 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 3: I wish people had not made these choices because man, 400 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 3: it's depressing. 401 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, luckily I have some news to lift our 402 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 2: moods after this depressing episode. I am pleased to report 403 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 2: that cool Zone Media will be headlining at Victor Orbon's 404 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 2: new comedy festival Hungry four Laughs. Yep, next year twenty 405 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 2: twenty six. Market in your calendar, cool Zone Media presents 406 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,880 Speaker 2: with Victor Orbon Hungary for laughs. That's all for us 407 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,640 Speaker 2: today at it Could Happen Here, See you next year 408 00:19:57,720 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 2: in Hungary. 409 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:00,120 Speaker 4: The vibe. 410 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 411 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 412 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: Coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 413 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 414 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: now find sources for it could Happen Here listed directly 415 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 1: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.