Leslie Knope would by no means, nevertheless it looks like Amy Poehler would.
The beloved “Saturday Night Live” alum is getting quite a lot of pushback from her followers for inviting her former “Parks and Recreation” co-star and comic Aziz Ansari on to her podcast.
“Everyone loves the podcast so when the comments look as they do right now you know something’s up,” noticed one YouTube commenter beneath Tuesday’s episode of Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast.
Not solely was Ansari accused of sexual misconduct in 2018, however he — and different large title comedians reminiscent of Pete Davidson, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Invoice Burr and Louis C.Ok. — are receiving an onslaught of backlash for acting at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Pageant earlier this month.
Human Rights Watch warned late final month that the state-sponsored occasion was an try and “deflect attention” from the nation’s “brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.” It additionally famous that the pageant coincided with the seventh anniversary of the homicide of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate.
YASIN AKGUL through Getty Photographs
Though it’s unclear if the podcast episode was recorded earlier than or after Ansari carried out in Saudi Arabia, it additionally begs one to marvel why “Good Hang” determined to launch this explicit episode now.
HuffPost has reached out to Poehler and the Ringer, which helps produce “Good Hang,” for remark, however didn’t get a direct response.
Poehler didn’t point out any of Ansari’s controversies throughout his look on her podcast. As a substitute the 2 had a light-weight and playful dialog about their time on “Parks & Rec,” Keanu Reeves and the comic’s favourite meals.
Kevin Mazur through Getty Photographs
Followers on YouTube expressed their outrage within the feedback part.
“I’m a huge part and rec fan, but I refuse to support any celebrity that involved in the Riyadh thing,” a commenter mentioned.
“Straight to jail on this one, guys. Catch you next episode,” one other mentioned.
“No but thank you. I am not supporting any of the Riyadh squat,” one other commenter chimed in. “And I feel disappointed with this co-signing of him. I hope there is some sort of questioning his morals of this, but I guess then it is not a good hang. Why ruin the good vibe with questions of support to dictators and killers.”
“Proud of the comments holding people accountable,” mentioned one other.
Over on Instagram, followers have been additionally crucial.
“How was Saudi Arabia?” one person requested.
“Oh Amy, this was a bad choice,” one other person mentioned.
“And just like that, the good hang perfect guest streak has officially come to an end,” a fan bemoaned.
“And now he supports dictators who kill journalists,” echoed one other person.
Though Poehler saved it breezy with Ansari, Jimmy Kimmel didn’t.
When Ansari appeared on his present final week to advertise his function directorial debut, “Good Fortune,” Kimmel grilled him about why he determined to do the Riyadh comedy pageant.
“I’m glad you asked, because it’s something I’ve put a lot of thought into,” Ansari defined, noting that he reached out to his aunt, who lived there for a while. “She said, ‘There’s people over there that don’t agree with the stuff that the government’s doing, and to ascribe the worst behavior of the government onto those people, that’s not fair.’ Just like there’s people in America that don’t agree with the things the government is doing.”
Kimmel agreed that issues aren’t rainbows and sunshine in america in the mean time, however identified that in Saudi Arabia, they “murdered a journalist.”
“These are not good people over there,” Kimmel mentioned. “Did you deal with those people specifically?”
“I was just there to do a show for the people,” Ansari replied. “I talked to my wife about this before I went, and she said, ‘Whenever there’s repressive societies like this, they try to keep things out — whether it’s rock and roll music or blue jeans — because it makes people curious about outside ideas, outside values. And this is a very young country, like half the country is under the age of 25, and things can really change.’ And to me, a comedy festival felt like something that’s pushing things to be more open and to push a dialogue.”
He added: “You kind of have to make a choice of whether you’re going to isolate or engage. For me, especially being me and looking the way I do and being from a Muslim background, it felt like something I should be a part of. And I hope it pushes things in a positive direction.”
Ansari mentioned he advised his group earlier than he determined to do the gig that “part of the fee should go to support causes that support free press and human rights,” after which talked about giving among the funds to Human Rights Watch.
“Aziz Ansari and other comedians have generously offered to donate part of their performance fees to rights groups like Human Rights Watch,” the group mentioned in an announcement final week. “But while we cannot accept, it is not too late for them to call for the release of detained Saudi activists.”
