Hasan Minhaj is finally responding to Netflix pulling an episode of his show "Patriot Act." Reportedly the comedian took to Twitter to make a satirical response to Netflix's decision. "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," the U.S. comedian said in a Twitter post.
The episode in question features Minhaj blasting Saudi Arabia over the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the country's role in the Yemen civil war. It was reportedly pulled by Netflix last week.
The U.S. streaming giant had to remove it after the Saudi government made a legal request, alleging the content violated anti-cybercrime rules. It is being reported that Article 6 of Saudi Arabia's anti-cybercrime law prohibits the "production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy" on the internet.
The decision drew outrage from all over but Netflix has yet to re-air the episode. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch had this to say: "Netflix's claim to support artistic freedom means nothing if it bows to demands of government officials who believe in no freedom for their citizens."
In the episode, entitled "Saudi Arabia," Hasan Minhaj reportedly took a shot at Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who many have hailed as a reformer due to his plan to steer Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency and diversify its economy.
"It blows my mind that it took the killing of a Washington Post journalist for everyone to go, 'Oh, I guess he's really not a reformer'," Minhaj said.
Netflix is keeping silent as of now. We'll have to wait and see what kind of reaction the Saudi government has to Hasan Minhaj's response. You can check out his response here:
You can check out the video here:
