Hasan Minhaj on Saudi Censorship of His Netflix Show: They Started ‘Their Own Muslim Ban’

Comedian Hasan Minhaj mocked Saudi Arabia on the newest season of his Netflix series after the Gulf state barred the streaming of one of his episodes due to his jokes about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“This is Patriot Act, or as it’s known in Saudi Arabia, ‘Error 404 Not Found,'” Minhaj joked on a new episode of Patriot Act, which was released on Sunday.

“A request? Does MBS think that Netflix is a wedding DJ?” He added. “A quick request — ‘Could you just take down that an episode that’s criticizing me and then play Usher’s Yeah?'”

Minhaj continued by joking that he “still can’t believe… we got Saudi Arabia to issue its very own Muslim ban.”

“Of all the Netflix originals the only show that Saudi Arabia thinks violates ‘Muslim values’ is the one hosted by a Muslim.”

The MBS regime justified the episode removal by citing the state’s cybersecurity laws, specifically a part on banning “material impinging on public order, religious values or public morals.”

He later joked about his status as a “bipartisan icon” because of the Saudi attacks. The right-wing website Breitbart even published a piece defending Minhaj, who comes from an Indian Muslim background.

“[Breitbart] had to look at a picture of me and MBS and be like, ‘Which one is browner? Is there a third option to hate?'” Minhaj riffed.

He finished the bit by showing the big picture of the petro dictatorship’s petty censorship battles:

“This isn’t about just censoring one episode of a TV show. It’s about the precedent. Because as tech companies keep expanding, they’re going to keep running into more vague censorship laws. Laws that can allow governments to pull any content at any time… Saudi [Arabia] doesn’t care about ‘immoral content’ that ‘impinges on religious values. They’re mad that a Muslim is airing out their dirty laundry.”

Watch above, via Netflix.