Netflix pulls episode of Hasan Minhaj’s comedy show critical of Saudi Arabia after legal threat from regime

Netflix has yanked an episode of comedy show “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” in Saudi Arabia in which the comedian criticizes the U.S.’s ties to the regime and mocked the Saudis’ attempts to murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Netflix removed the single episode from its service in Saudi Arabia last week. It was one of the first two “Patriot Act” episodes to debut worldwide Oct. 28. Netflix received a takedown request last month from the Saudi regime’s Communications and Information Technology Commission, citing the content as a violation of its cybercrime laws.

In a statement, the streamer defended the decision to pull the segment. “We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and only removed this episode in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request — and to comply with local law,” Netflix said in a statement. The news was first reported by the Financial Times.

The 27-minute episode, titled “Saudi Arabia,” remains available on Netflix in all other territories. In addition, the bulk of the segment remains available on worldwide on Netflix’s YouTube channel for the show.

Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who had written for the Washington Post, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. After repeated denials, in late October, the Saudi Arabian government officially confirmed Khashoggi’s death and claimed it was the result of a “rogue operation.”

In the episode in question, Minhaj questioned the U.S.’s relationship with the Saudis and mocked the regime’s account of Khashoggi’s murder.

“Saudis were struggling to explain his disappearance: They said he left the consulate safely, then they used a body double to make it seem like he was alive,” the comedian says. “At one point they were saying he died in a fist fight, Jackie Chan-style. They went through so many explanations. The only one they didn’t say was that Khashoggi died in a free solo rock-climbing accident.”

Minhaj, born and raised in California to parents who emigrated to the U.S. from India, was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The comedian won a 2018 Peabody Award for his Netflix comedy special “Homecoming King.”

In the weekly “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” the comedian sets out to “explore the modern cultural and political landscape and search for larger trends shaping the world today,” according to a description of the show from Netflix. The show, set to run 32 episodes, is executive produced by Minhaj, Prashanth Venkataramanujam, Art & Industry’s Michelle Caputo and Shannon Hartman, Jennie Church-Cooper, and Jim Margolis, who also serves as showrunner.

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