Comedian Hasan Minhaj called out Jared Kushner while he was in the audience at the TIME 100 gala, mocking his close relationship with Saudi's crown prince

Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

Jared Kushner waits in the White House with a member of the Saudi delegation during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in March 2018.

• Comedian Hasan Minhaj called out White House adviser Jared Kusher for his relationship with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman during his speech at the TIME 100 gala on Tuesday night. 
• "It would be crazy if - I don't know, if there was just like a high-ranking official in the White House that could WhatsApp MBS and say, 'Hey, maybe you could help that person get out of prison because they don't deserve it,'" Minhaj said, referring to Kushner's reported use of WhatsApp to communicate with the Saudi dictator. 
• Minhaj went viral earlier this year after Netflix bowed to Saudi Arabia's request to remove an episode of his comedy show critical of the Saudi regime.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Comedian Hasan Minhaj called out White House adviser Jared Kusher, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, for his close ties to Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman during his speech at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday night. 

"I'm very lucky that I get to be here in America and I can make jokes about very powerful leaders, and I have the safety of being here in America," Minhaj said. "We have a lot of incredible rights here in America and safeties that we take for granted oftentimes." 

Minhaj referred to his recent criticism of the Saudi government's murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in an episode of his Netflix show, which prompted the Middle Eastern regime to pressure Netflix into removing the episode from its streaming service in the country.

The comedian argued that activists like Loujain Al-Hathloul, a 29-year-old Saudi women's rights advocate who remains imprisoned and has allegedly been tortured by the Saudi regime, deserve more praise than he does. (Minhaj made the TIME 100 list this year, and Al-Hathloul was a TIME honoree.)

Read more: Comedian says that Saudi Arabia making Netflix delete his show only means more people will see it

He then turned his focus on the US government's close relationship with Saudi Arabia and singled out Kushner, without naming him, by asking whether a "high-ranking official in the White House" could WhatsApp Prince Mohammed (commonly referred to as MBS) and ask him to release Al-Hathloul from prison. Kushner has reportedly used the encrypted messaging app to communicate with Salman. 

"This is a very powerful room, I know there's a lot of very powerful people here. It would be crazy if - I don't know, if there was just like a high-ranking official in the White House that could WhatsApp MBS and say, 'Hey, maybe you could help that person get out of prison because they don't deserve it,' but that would be crazy," Minhaj said. "That would be - that person would have to be in the room, but that's just a good comedy premise."

Kushner was in attendance at the gala.

In an October episode of his comedy show, Patriot Act, Minhaj accused the Saudi Arabian government of covering up their murder of Khashoggi, critized US arms sales and diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and the US-backed Saudi-led war in Yemen, and the Saudi government's treatment of women.

The CIA concluded in November that Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's killing. The Washington Post writer is believed to have been murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October.

Read more: Jared Kushner downplays Russian interference in 2016 election, says it was just 'a couple of Facebook ads' 

Netflix controversially removed the episode from the site in early January at the Saudi government's request, citing a Saudi law that bans "production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy, through the information network or computers."

The episode soon went viral on YouTube. Minhaj told The Atlantic in December that the situation had made him fear for his family's safety.