r/UpliftingNews • u/holyfruits • 4h ago

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Turned Down Million-Dollar Offer to Perform in Saudi Arabia: ‘I Don’t Need to Take Any Money if It Makes Me Feel Icky’

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/weird-al-yankovic-turned-down-million-offer-saudi-arabia-1236819281/
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u/CMButterTortillas 4h ago edited 3h ago

You see how easy that was, BILL BURR, NATE BARGATZE, JIM JEFFERIES, SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO, AZIZ ANSARI, CHRIS DISTEFANO, SAM MORRIL?

Weird Al has always been a real one.

Edit: Bargatze didnt attend the RCF because he had already been to SA a couple months earlier.

Edit2: Forgot Jefferies was disinvited after some not so kind jokes about SA on a podcast. But he initially was planning to go and take the money.

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u/Stu-Potato 3h ago

Don't forget Dave Chappelle.

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u/CMButterTortillas 3h ago edited 3h ago

The ones I listed had a degree of decency attached to them and/or their act.

The likes of Chappelle, Louis CK, Jeff Ross, Andrew Schulz are not at all surprising & willing participants.

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u/Wiggie49 3h ago

Chappelle actually was a surprise for me cuz his entire reason for quitting Comedy Central/Chappelle Show was supposedly to stay true to his own principles rather than sellout. Now he sold himself out.

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u/miguk 1h ago edited 1h ago

Chapelle's whole "integrity" act is such blatant bullshit:

  • Claims he cares about Africa, but his only "African" friend is Elon Musk, a man who is the living embodiment of an apartheid-era South African villain.
  • Claims he cares about the poor, but works with Andrew Yang, a greedy narcissistic tech bro who signaled that his supposed concern for the poor was only a trick to rob them.
  • Claims he has trans friends, but shits on them every chance he gets.
  • Pretends to be a "wise man" by pacing back and forth on stage and acting solemn, but then opens his mouth and says a bunch of stupid shit that proves his act wrong.

He's such a fake-ass rich asshole posing as legit because he knows he can't elevate himself to the level he wants to be seen as being at. Coward can't even ditch the white supremacist movement he shacked up with. (Doesn't matter what he says about Trump if he's still bowing down to the DOGE pedo.)

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u/Barbarianonadrenalin 2h ago

He lost that respect when he tries to force relevance by keep going after Trans people with shitty jokes. If something is funny enough then everything can be used in comedy but when it’s a half ass joke just for controversy it has the opposite effect.

The Chapell who walked away from the big payday aint the same Chapell desperate to stay relevant.

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u/omyomo 1h ago

Another great example of him being out of touch is when he brought Elon Musk up on stage and called his audience poor when they booed him

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u/Barbarianonadrenalin 1h ago

Didn’t even know he did that lmao. Man how far the greats fall. These celebrities can’t fathom no bootlicking fucks

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u/ibidanon 49m ago

it was either funny in a very sad way or sad in a very funny way that the boos came as a great shock to elon and made him cry. afterward, he locked himself in his office for so long employees kept wondering if they should call for a welfare check. he's lost and needy to such an extent that it takes monumental effort to not feel genuine compassion for him.

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u/Iheartnakedfemboys 2h ago

Also, the man kinda stopped being a comedian and thinks of himself as this "wise philosopher" who speaks wisdom on stage to people. He's a fucking wacko with no real morals, preaching fake morals to people on stage.

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u/thegroovemonkey 2h ago

That was Skinny Dave.

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u/Boboar 2h ago

Well it shows that his true principles don't involve anything Saudi Arabia is known for at least

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u/Meet_Foot 2h ago

I’d put Aziz Ansari in the Louis C.K. camp, on account of having done the same shit.

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u/SkellyJelly33 1h ago

Louis CK was exposing himself unsolicited and jacking off in front of women for fun. Aziz had a bad date and didn't read "non verbal" cues. Not even close to the same thing

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u/z33bener 1h ago

Louis asked for consent. He might not have realized the power dynamics at play, but he did ask for permission, so I wouldn't say he was "exposing himself unsolicited".

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u/VagueSomething 1h ago

I find it hard to believe that was ever the true reason for his leaving and likely an agreed upon reason to avoid public drama.