Riyadh Comedy Festival: Whitney Cummings calls critics “racist”

But Cummings had an answer for that, and an answer to the criticism of Riyadh coming from within the comedy world. “By the way, any comic that has ever worked with Live Nation—which is all of them—has taken Saudi money, but keep with your little rants,” she said. “When you get a sec, google ‘Saudi Arabia Live Nation’ so you can be informed on the fact that anyone who has worked with Live Nation, every stand-up comic, has taken Saudi money. … Or bought a ticket through Live Nation, went to a Live Nation event, all the actors who are represented by William Morris Agency, which is all of them. If you want to send them notes too.” 

Cummings has become more political (and, often, more right-leaning) in her material recently. Her New Year’s set on CNN touched on several conspiracy theories, including bits about the Pfizer vaccine and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. After the death of Charlie Kirk, she posted on Twitter/X that the shooter “could have done it privately but chose to do it publicly in front of kids. If you are happy about this you’re also pro child trauma.” It’s unclear if she was joking or sincere, but either way, the post garnered backlash. 

“I’m trying to help you sound less racist,” Cummings shot back at her critics. She described those who took issue with her participation in the Riyadh Comedy Festival as nepo babies (“People whose dads have points on huge television shows are like, ‘I have a backup plan, a huge trust fund, you’re a sellout for making money’”), comics who wish they were invited to the festival, and “the same people who are like, if they found out a Fox journalist was murdered, they would truly throw a party.”