What: An illuminating Twitter thread that starts with a fun anecdote but goes much deeper.
Who: American Dad! writer and producer Kirk Rudell.
Why we care: Earlier this week, we learned that Saudi Arabia requested that Netflix remove an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj from streaming in that country because the episode was critical of the Saudi government. Netflix complied. If this incident illuminated the Saudi response to critics outside of its borders, a heartbreaking new Twitter thread reveals how the company handles its critics from within.
Kirk Rudell, a writer for Seth MacFarlane’s long-running American Dad!, starts off his story pleasantly enough, describing how he came to meet popular Saudi comedian Fahad Albutairi and his wife Loujain Hathloul.
I looked him up. He was the first Saudi stand-up comedian to appear on stage professionally in the Kingdom, the “Jerry Seinfeld of Saudi Arabia.” He had a couple million Twitter followers. (He has none now; I’ll get to that.) He was, frankly, more interesting than the part.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
Loujain didn’t know anyone in LA, so she was tagging along with Fahad for the day. They were young, cool, cosmopolitan, and incredibly nice. I liked them right away. We chatted.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
Rudell recounts getting to know the popular Saudi comedian better–and realizing how much of a miracle it is that Albutairi managed to become a popular Saudi comedian in the first place.
…growing up without hearing other stand-ups and being unfamiliar with the standard rhythms. So Trevor had to create his own. Fahad was fascinated. Yes, he had had a similar experience. But his voice was also shaped by the fact that comedy in the Kingdom was…dangerous.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
They were hopeful but warned there was still a long way to go on human rights. Which is why they’d moved to the UAE.
“Huh. At least you’re safe,” I said. With millions of fans, he was too high profile to mess with. I looked at Loujain. “And his fame covers both of you, right?”
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
If Rudell was surprised to learn how difficult comedians have it in the Middle East, he was floored to learn what activists in the region can expect to go through. Rudell didn’t realize at first that Hathloul is a women’s rights activist who has been arrested for driving.
I felt like an idiot. I had assumed she was the sidekick when she had already, by her mid-20s, done more for human rights than I ever will. https://t.co/CBGPYzdJJT
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
They were a window into a world I only knew through small articles in the Times, and I could’ve talked to them all afternoon, but we had to do the record and get on with our days.
We exchanged info. We made plans to have dinner while they were in town.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
Fahad and I sent each other links to work we were doing…trying to make the gulf between our worlds a little bit smaller.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
The devastating part of the Twitter thread arrives when Rudell skips ahead a couple years and reveals that neither Albutairi nor Hathloul were as free from danger as they may have hoped at the time they met the American Dad! writer. Rudell compounds the impact of his revelations by reminding readers of the current state of the U.S.’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.
While Jared Kushner’s buddy MbS was planning to murder Khashoggi, he was also imprisoning many others, including Fahad and Loujain.
They were just young, creative people, trying to make stuff. pic.twitter.com/V14KV8USHs
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
I’d like to see what they could do in this world, if they were given the chance.
I’d like the government of my country to not take payoffs to look the other way at human rights atrocities.
I’d like to have that dinner with them some day.
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 2, 2019
The Twitter thread ends on an especially sad note, with Rudell learning that Hathloul’s father recently confirmed that Hathloul has been sexually harassed, tortured, and threatened with rape inside the Saudi government prison where she is kept–and that the father was suspended from Twitter after tweeting about it.
Apparently Loujain’s father’s Twitter was suspended last week after he tweeted about the torture she has suffered in a Saudi government prison. The story below is awful – any comment from @jack or @TwitterSupport?
(Thank you @EricaCher4 for finding) https://t.co/RZPqwmxF5R
— Kirk Rudell (@krudell) January 3, 2019
As certain Americans complain about the supposed scourge of PC culture, it’s important to remember the freedom of speech we too often take for granted. You might get “canceled” in the U.S. for saying the wrong thing, but you probably won’t get tortured in a government jail.