Comedian Hasan Minhaj slams Netflix for censoring him in Saudi Arabia over Yemen criticism

Published time: 3 Jan, 2019 12:52

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Comedian Hasan Minhaj has mocked Netflix over its decision to bow to Saudi Arabia’s request to censor his show, which slammed the Kingdom and MBS over the war in Yemen and human rights abuses.

“Clearly, the best way to stop people from watching something is to ban it, make it trend online, and then leave it up on YouTube,” Minhaj wrote on Twitter.

Hasan Minhaj

✔@hasanminhaj

Clearly, the best way to stop people from watching something is to ban it, make it trend online, and then leave it up on YouTube.

Let’s not forget that the world’s largest humanitarian crisis is happening in Yemen right now. Please donate: https://help.rescue.org/donate/yemen 

The New York Times

✔@nytimes

Netflix has blocked an episode of its show “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” from streaming in Saudi Arabia after the Saudi government complained that the episode — which is critical of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman — violated its cybercrime laws https://nyti.ms/2CGDDKs 

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Netflix removed an episode of 'Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj' in which Minhaj criticized the Kingdom's war in Yemen and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over the slaughter of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, from its Saudi Arabian service.

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Minhaj also delivered blows to the US for its continued relationship with the oil rich Gulf state and its portrayal of the prince as a reformer. The actor and comedian also called Saudi Arabia the “boyband manager of 9/11” and made fun of the crown prince:

MBS asked, ‘Why the outrage?’ and frankly, MBS’ confusion is completely understandable. He has been getting away with autocratic s**t like this for years with almost no blowback from the international community. 

"It took the killing of a Washington Post journalist for everyone to go ‘Oh, I guess he’s really not a reformer'," Minhaj added.

The comedian also explains that MBS is known as “Abu Rasasa” or “father of the bullet” in Saudi Arabia, and said it is problematic for Muslims to pray in the direction of Mecca, because Saudi Arabia “does not represent our values.”

The Kingdom’s Communications and Information Technology Commission made a complaint to Netflix, saying the episode violated Saudi anti-cybercrime law.

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Netflix complied, explaining in a statement that it removed the episode “only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal demand from the government – and to comply with local law.”

The episode is still available on Youtube.