Netflix CEO Defends Dropping 'Patriot Act' Khashoggi Murder Episode In Saudi Arabia

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings defended his companys decision to comply with Saudi Arabian officials and pull an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj about the grisly killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi version of the platform.

Hastings briefly talked about the episode and other Netflix controversies during The New York Times DealBook conference in New York City Wednesday.

Were not in the news business, Hastings said of Netflix, according to Deadline . Were not trying to do truth to power. Were trying to entertain.

Hastings also said that Netflix could accomplish a lot more by being entertainment rather than trying to be another news channel, according to The Hollywood Reporters account of the conference.

After Hasan Minhaj criticized the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on his Netflix show, the streaming service removed the episode in Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/6P4slgdyNI

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After Hasan Minhaj criticized the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on his Netflix show, the streaming service removed the episode in Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/6P4slgdyNI
HuffPost (@HuffPost) January 2, 2019

In the episode in question, titled Saudi Arabia, Hasan criticizes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is thought to be responsible for Khashoggis murder. He also denounces the U.S. governments relationship with the country.

Now would be a good time to reassess our relationship with Saudi Arabia. And I mean that as a Muslim and as an American, Minhaj says in the episode.

MBS asked, Why the outrage? and frankly, MBSs confusion is completely understandable, Minhaj adds later, referring to bin Salman. He has been getting away with autocratic shit like [Khashoggis killing] for years with almost no blowback from the international community.

Netflix told the Financial Times in January that Saudi Arabias Communications and Information Technology Commission asked for the episode to be removed from the Saudi version of Netflix because it reportedly violated the countrys laws.

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.

Lets not forget that the worlds largest humanitarian crisis is happening in Yemen right now. Please donate: https://t.co/znMP8vyJma https://t.co/t2VUDhhIdB

Hasan Minhaj (@hasanminhaj) January 2, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Hasan Minhaj","author_url":"https://twitter.com/hasanminhaj","cache_age":86400,"description":"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.Lets not forget that the worlds largest humanitarian crisis is happening in Yemen right now. 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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.

Lets not forget that the worlds largest humanitarian crisis is happening in Yemen right now. Please donate: https://t.co/znMP8vyJma https://t.co/t2VUDhhIdB
Hasan Minhaj (@hasanminhaj) January 2, 2019

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who often wrote critically of the crown prince, disappeared last year after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul while his fiancee waited outside. It was later revealed that assassins brutally murdered him and cut his body into pieces with a bone saw.

CIA officials determined that the Saudi crown prince ordered the journalists murder, though the Saudi government continues to deny it.

Hastings reportedly said he had no remorse for complying with Saudi officials request, but said things wouldve been different if the request was over gay content.

We dont feel bad about that at all, Hastings also said, as reported by Variety .

If they came to us and said you cant have gay content, we wouldnt do that. We would not comply with that, he explained, according to THR .

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Minhaj mocked Netflix for censoring the episode 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, the comedian tweeted after the episode was pulled.

In an interview with CNN , Minhaj said he wasnt prepared to go up against a dictator.

Im not built for this beef, he told CNN s Van Jones. Im not ready to go head-to-head with dictators or autocrats, so Im sorry in advance. Like, I want to live to see the retweets.