{"id":15050,"date":"2026-07-23T21:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15050"},"modified":"2026-07-23T21:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:24:32","slug":"weird-al-yankovic-turned-down-seven-figure-offer-to-perform-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15050","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Weird Al\u2019 Yankovic turned down seven-figure offer to perform in Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2024\/07\/19\/Music-Weird_Al_14613_s1440x957.jpg?c1375b6336213a1b1684ea576b59a48061a6cd3a\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Musician and comedian \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic said he <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/news\/weird-al-yankovic-turned-down-million-offer-saudi-arabia-1236819281\/\">rejected<\/a> an offer worth at least $1 million to perform at last year\u2019s Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, saying the money would have made him \u201cfeel icky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Yankovic, who made headlines earlier this month for pulling out of an artificial intelligence advertisement, told the Pennsylvania outlet TribLive that he was invited to perform at the state-sponsored festival but turned it down despite the payday being the largest ever offered to him for a single show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish people would offer me things that I didn\u2019t feel bad about accepting,\u201d Mr. Yankovic said. \u201cI was invited to the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which is something that I obviously did not want to do. They offered me \u2014 I\u2019m not going to say how much \u2014 but it was seven figures to do one show, which is way more than I\u2019ve ever been offered in my life to do a show. But I just couldn\u2019t be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Yankovic, currently touring North America on his \u201cBigger and Weirder\u201d tour, said he does not fault other performers who accepted money to appear at the festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not dissing anybody that took the money because I\u2019m sure everybody that went there got a lot of money,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure they had their own reasons and justifications for doing it. But I\u2019m doing enough that I don\u2019t need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/au.variety.com\/2025\/tv\/news\/louis-ck-riyadh-comedy-festival-positive-thing-backlash-28531\">Riyadh Comedy Festival<\/a>, which ran Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, featured more than 50 comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Pete Davidson and Aziz Ansari. The event was organized by Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority as part of the kingdom\u2019s Vision 2030 push to expand its entertainment sector, and it drew criticism from human rights groups and several American comedians over Saudi Arabia\u2019s record on free speech and its role in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n<p>Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka said she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/articles\/comic-spills-beans-censorship-rules-063951521.html\">turned down an offer<\/a> that came with \u201ccontent restrictions\u201d barring jokes about the Saudi government, its legal system or religious customs.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe money is coming straight from the Crown Prince, who actively executes journalists \u2026 without due process,\u201d she wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Comedian Shane Gillis likewise turned down a fee he called a \u201csignificant bag,\u201d saying organizers doubled the offer after he first said no. \u201cI took a principled stand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Several comedians who did travel to Riyadh defended the decision. Mr. Ansari said on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-news\/aziz-ansari-riyadh-comedy-festival-jimmy-kimmel-live-1236396832\/\">\u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/a> that it was unfair \u201cto ascribe the worst behavior of the government\u201d onto ordinary Saudis, adding that he hoped the festival would help \u201cpush things to be more open.\u201d Mr. Burr called the experience \u201cone of the top three experiences I\u2019ve had,\u201d saying \u201cthe royals loved the show.\u201d Louis C.K. said the invitation <a href=\"https:\/\/au.variety.com\/2025\/tv\/news\/louis-ck-riyadh-comedy-festival-positive-thing-backlash-28531\">\u201cfelt like a good opportunity\u201d<\/a> and that \u201ccomedy is a great way to get in and start talking.\u201d Mr. Chappelle <a href=\"https:\/\/au.variety.com\/2025\/more\/news\/dave-chappelle-saudi-arabia-riyadh-festival-free-speech-28486\/\">joked onstage<\/a> in Riyadh that \u201cit\u2019s easier to talk here than it is in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/23\/weird-al-yankovic-turned-seven-figure-offer-perform-saudi-arabia\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/23\/weird-al-yankovic-turned-seven-figure-offer-perform-saudi-arabia\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musician and comedian \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic said he rejected an offer worth at least $1 million to perform at last year\u2019s Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, saying the money would have made him \u201cfeel icky.\u201d Mr. Yankovic, who made headlines earlier this month for pulling out of an artificial intelligence advertisement, told the Pennsylvania&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2024\/07\/19\/Music-Weird_Al_14613_c0-101-2500-1559_s1200x700.jpg?16eb01d78ce1459c7fc93fa5c6291912f0de0703","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}