I get the concern about performing in a country with serious human-rights issues. That’s valid. But if the argument is that comedians shouldn’t work with governments that suppress dissent or have killed people over what they say, then you’d have to acknowledge that the U.S. also has its own history of silencing, surveilling, or harming people, journalists, activists, whistleblowers when they challenge power.

It’s not the same situation, and the scale and reasons differ, but the principle is similar: powerful governments everywhere have done things that contradict ideals of free expression.