Hasan Minhaj has finally spoken up about Netflix’s decision to censor an episode of his show Patriot Act in Saudi Arabia.
“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,” Minhaj tweeted Wednesday.
The comedian’s response came a day after the Financial Times reported Netflix would pull an episode of Minhaj’s talk show that was critical of the Saudi government over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as Saudi Arabia’s role in the civil war in neighboring Yemen.
Https://twitter.com/hasanminhaj/status/1080540270092005379
Netflix, which distributes Patriot Act as a Netflix Original, said the episode was removed because it had “received a valid legal demand from the government—and to comply with local law.”
Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is said to have been involved in the killing of Khashoggi, is a consistent target of Minhaj’s criticism throughout the episode.
The banned episode is still available to Netflix users in other parts of the world, and is still accessible in Saudi Arabia through Patriot Act‘s YouTube channel, the Financial Time s reported.