Saudi Arabia opened its exclusive entertainment event ‘Riyadh Season’ with a performance by Colombian-Lebanese artist Shakira. This was the fourth edition of the festival, with many celebrities including Portuguese football player Christiano Ronaldo, rappers Eminem and Kanye West.
Pictures and videos of the event circulated on social media, causing an uproar. Questions were raised as to Saudia’s celebration of a festival when the Palestinians are being bombed in Gaza with more than 9000 killed in Israeli airstrikes.
MBS should invite members of the IDF to chill in Riyadh.
— Ali Ibrahim (@AliIbra713) October 29, 2023
#RiyadhSeason you are organizing a festival while a sister Arabian country is facing a genocide and Saudi as well will face it later a genocide, they are planning to take from #Egypt to #iraq they started in #Palestine #syria #Saudi_Arabia #kuwait #lebanon Netanyahu was bold! pic.twitter.com/QJB0c31lqE
— alyaabdu (@aliaabdou2) October 28, 2023
Many also expressed outrage after a man named Farkhan was removed from Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou event for waving the Palestinian flag.
You can dance to the tunes of #Shakira, flaunt your body by wearing a bikini, but cannot take a Palestine flag with you in #SaudiArabia. #RiyadhSeason #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/pUTk0XJlpz
— Faheem (@stoppression) October 29, 2023
— Shahid🇲🇻 (@alishahid979) October 29, 2023
