Amy Poehler is getting some fierce pushback from fans who are not happy she had her Parks and Recreation co-star Aziz Ansari on her podcast.
“Everyone loves the podcast so when the comments look as they do right now you know something’s up,” observed one YouTube commenter beneath Poehler’s latest episode of her Good Hang podcast. “Man, you’d think a comedian would know a thing or two about ‘timing,’” wrote another as the comment section filled with Poehler fans declaring they’d be “skipping” Ansari’s episode.
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Ansari joined the show in the midst of the continued backlash he’s received for being one of dozens of American comedians who performed at Saudi Arabia’s state-sponsored comedy festival. Fans and industry peers have expressed their discontent with the comedy stars—namely Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart, and more—reacting to the comedians’ apparent endorsement of the country after its suspected role in the 2001 New York terrorist attacks and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi—among other human rights abuses.
Jimmy Kimmel gave Ansari an opportunity to explain why he chose to perform for the “brutal regime” last week.
“There’s people over there that don’t agree with the stuff that the government’s doing and to ascribe like the worst behavior of the government onto those people, that’s not fair,” Ansari said at the time. He’d tried to donate part of his performance fee to the Human Rights Watch, which turned down the offer to avoid taking money from the regime.
Payments for the performances reportedly ranged between $375,000 and $1.6 million for just one set. Critics interpret the Riyadh Festival as another way for the oil-rich country to “whitewash” its global reputation.
AZIZ ANSARI, JIMMY KIMMEL (Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images) Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images
Poehler made herself part of the conversation on Tuesday by having Ansari on her podcast and declining to bring up the elephant in the room.
Commented one YouTube user on the episode, “Just a reminder, all these ‘funny people’…whitewashing is what they got paid for, NOT the comedy.”
One comment hit lower, “Why is anyone here expecting Amy to be an intellectually courageous person Re: Saudi festival?”
As Poehler’s show title suggests, however, Good Hang has consistently strayed from more difficult subject matters since it premiered in March.
As one disgruntled fan pointed out, Ansari is not the first Good Hang guest who was slated to perform at the festival. Zarna Garg joined the show in August, a month after her participation was announced by Saudi Arabia’s Entertainment Authority. Garg was one of just a small handful of female comics who performed at the controversial event. One of the others, the openly queer Jessica Kirson, expressed “sincere regret” about her participation after she was criticized.
And it’s not just international affairs that Poehler avoids for her guests’ comfort. When Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne appeared on Poehler’s show in June amid to her generative A.I. studio was still fresh, the host uttered nary a word about it, though she commonly asks guests what they’re working on.
Ultimately, Poehler didn’t seem to do Ansari any favors by sidestepping the fan complaints once again on Tuesday.
“I would’ve been more excited for this episode if it had come out before we knew Aziz was fine with taking blood money from murderous slave owners,” read one of many similar comments on YouTube, despite the episode’s light-hearted tone.
Another person wrote, “ I don’t respect anyone that takes Saudi state money. It was a state funded festival designed to whitewash and gaslight the world to thinking they’re not all bad, to create better tourism, to pretend they’re actually not doing all that horrible s–-t they’re doing.”
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