Over 50 stand-up comedians from around the globe, including Americans Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Whitney Cummings, and Bill Burr, are being hosted by the government of Saudi Arabia for the inaugural Riyadh Comedy Festival. But not everyone is laughing about the matter.

Running from Sept. 26 through Oct. 9 in Boulevard City, Riyadh, the festival — spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — was launched in an attempt to bolster economic diversification and tourism, per the Saudi Arabian government. Nonprofit watchdog group Human Rights Watch and fellow comedians like David Cross and Marc Maron, however, are saying otherwise, accusing the festival of deflecting from the country’s human rights violations and slamming their peers for their involvement.

Read on below for a breakdown of the Riyadh Comedy Festival controversy that has divided the comedy world.

Why is the Riyadh Comedy Festival controversial?

The controversy concerns Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record characterized by brutal restrictions of freedom of expression and systemic discrimination against minorities and women. U.S. intelligence agencies also found that the crown prince approved the 2018 killing of the Saudi Washington Post journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who advocated for democratic reform and human rights. Human rights organizations have been ringing the alarm for years on the Saudi government imprisoning human rights advocates, including Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence.

“The Saudi government is using the Riyadh Comedy Festival to deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations,” Human Rights Watch said, noting that they reached out to reps of the participating comedians to “request a meeting about Saudi Arabia’s human rights crisis,” but did not receive replies. The nonprofit watch group is urging participants to “use the comedy festival to publicly urge Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained Saudi dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists.”

Which comedians are performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival?

Along with some of the names mentioned above, other notable comedians part of the festival line-up include: Mo Amer, Aziz Ansari, Wayne Brady, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Hannibal Buress, Andrew Schulz, Jimmy Carr, Aries Spears, Tom Segura, Chris Tucker, Jack Whitehall, Zarna Garg, and Chris Distefano, among others.

What are other comedians saying about the festival and participants?

Marc Maron, who disclosed that he was not invited as a participant, took aim at the festival in a stand-up set, quipping, “I mean, how do you even promote that? Like, ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert. Don’t miss it!’ The same guy that’s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a f—ing suitcase. But don’t let that stop the yucks, it’s gonna be a good time!”

Silicon Valley‘s Zach Woods also mocked the festival with a satirical advertisement on Instagram. “Now there’s a lot of drips, killjoys and dweebazoids who are saying, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t do comedy over there because it’s whitewashing a regime that just in June killed a journalist and killed Jamal Khashoggi and played a big role in 9/11,’” Woods said. “Shut up. Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themselves out to a dictator.”

Shane Gillis and Atsuko Okatsuka, both invited to participate, disclosed that they declined invitations and also took aim at the festival. “It was a significant bag. But I’d already said no. I took a principled stand,” Gillis said on a podcast. Okatsuka, meanwhile, mocked the hypocrisy of the participating comedians and even shared details of her offer on social media, which came with content restrictions. Per the offer shared by Okatsuka, comedians are prohibited from “degrading, defaming,” and/or bringing “into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule” of the government and Saudi royal family.

“The money is coming straight from the Crown Prince, who actively executes journalists, ppl with nonlethal drug offenses, bloggers, etc without due process,” she wrote. “A lot of the ‘you can’t say anything anymore!’ comedians are doing the festival. They had to adhere to censorship rules about the types of jokes they can make.”

Arrested Development star David Cross said he was “disgusted and deeply disappointed” by the festival and its participants in a statement. “People I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for…what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?” he wrote. “You’re performing for literally the most oppressive regime on earth.  They have SLAVES for f—‘s sake.”

Sleepwalk With Me‘s Mike Birbiglia has also publicly said he “passed” on doing the festival.

What have the participating comedians said in response to the controversy?

Bill Burr defended his decision to appear at the festival, where he performed on opening night, describing it as “one of the top three experiences I’ve ever had” on his podcast. “I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things,” he said, also sharing a story of an experience he had in nearby Bahrain where found connection with his fellow patrons after witnessing one man joke around with a “hammered” buddy. “I’m like, these guys, they’re just like us,” he recalled thinking. “I don’t speak the language, but I get it.”

Pete Davidson, also addressed the controversy without getting too in the weeds during an appearance on Theo Von’s podcast. He acknowledged that he’s “been getting a little bit of flack” for going since his father was a New York City firefighter who died on 9/11, “so they’re like, ‘How could you possibly go there?'” But he shared that he accepted due to the substantial pay. “I get the routing and then I see the number and I go, ‘I’ll go.’”

Tim Dillon was also initially tapped to perform at the festival and stood by the decision, but was ultimately fired by festival organizers after a joke he made about the alleged slavery in Saudi Arabia. “I addressed it in a funny way, and they fired me,” Dillon said. “I certainly wasn’t gonna show up in your country and insult the people that are paying me the money.”

Representatives for the other notable participants didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly