In a seemingly lighthearted back-and-forth with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his show 鈥淧atriot Act,鈥 comedian Hasan Minhaj implores the Canadian leader to finish certain sentences.
He starts off with: 鈥淭im Hortons is鈥︹ And Trudeau replies: 鈥淎 Canadian institution.鈥
Minhaj then brings up the Toronto Raptors championship. 鈥淔inish this sentence: Kawhi Leonard should鈥︹
Trudeau replies: 鈥溾hould be very proud of what he accomplished during his time in Canada.鈥
Then, Minhaj throws a curveball at Trudeau.
鈥淐anada will not sell any more weapons to Saudi Arabia. Period. Sorry I messed that one up,鈥 Minhaj jokes. 鈥淐anada will not sell any more weapons to Saudi Arabia鈥 please鈥 That鈥檚 just a statement.鈥
Trudeau replies, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good statement,鈥 while the comedian continues to drill the prime minister about ending the multibillion-dollar arms contract with Saudi Arabia. Trudeau faced increased pressure to end the controversial deal following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October 2018.
In a previous episode of 鈥淧atriot Act,鈥 produced for Netflix, Minhaj blasted the Saudi government for its involvement in the assassination of Khashoggi and other human rights misconduct. In January, Saudi Arabia asked Netflix to pull the episode in which Minhaj criticizes their government, saying it allegedly violated the country鈥檚 cyber-crimes law.
In the interview with Trudeau, Minhaj jokes that Saudis do really watch his show. Trudeau fires back: 鈥淚鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e keeping an eye on you.鈥 The prime minister ends the back-and-forth by saying Canada takes the breaking of contracts seriously.
The 鈥淧atriot Act鈥 episode is titled 鈥淭wo Sides of Canada鈥 and focuses on how Canada plans to tackle climate change while it still relies heavily on oil for its economy.