(Bloomberg) -- Comedian Hasan Minhaj lashed out on Twitter after Netflix Inc. pulled an episode of his show “Patriot Act” from its video service 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,” Minhaj said online Wednesday.
The global streaming service removed the episode -- which is critical of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman -- from viewing in Saudi Arabia last week after the government complained it violated the country's laws. The news was first reported by The Financial Times.
The second episode of the show criticizes bin Salman over the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi role in the war in Yemen.
“We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and removed this episode only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal demand from the government -- and to comply with local law,” Netflix said in a statement.
The episode remains available to Netflix customers elsewhere in the world, and it can also be seen by viewers in Saudi Arabia through the show's YouTube channel, according to the Financial Times.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum
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