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It’s pretty standard practise for mobile phones to be confiscated at comedy shows, concerts, film premieres and even press screenings. But threatening a AUD $1.4 million fee should an audience member so much as even pass opinion on the content is beyond ridiculous. And yet, that’s a rule Pete Davidson has enforced at at least one of his comedy shows.
The Saturday Night Live comedian told his ticket buyers to stay mum after recently attending his show at the Sydney Goldstein Theatre in San Francisco. According to a social media post reported in Deadline, audiences were required to print off a non-disclosure form, sign it and bring it to the theatre.
Any patrons not willing to do this would be issued a full refund. Furthermore, any patrons who did sign such a binding agreement and then go against its terms by posting any sort of post-event commentary, would be required to pay a terrifying USD $1 million in damages plus legal costs. But, there was no clause stating a patron couldn’t post the actual contract to social media which is exactly what one woman named Stacy Young did. Take a look here.
It’s not exactly clear why Davidson made this move. Sometimes comedians don’t like to spoil their material for their next show but threatening an exorbitant fee as high as this is a lot. American filmmaker Todd Phillips (he directed Joker) famously pointed out to Vanity Fair “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture” – and he’s got a point: How on earth could a comedian joke about anything when anything could be taken out of context? But is this Davidson’s motivation for threatening legal action? Who knows.
