Comedian Göktaş jailed pending trial over his viral stand-up
Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş was jailed pending trial on July 3 on charges of denigrating religious values and insulting the president, following an investigation into his stand-up performance that has attracted millions of views online.
The 32-year-old comedian was detained at Istanbul Airport on July 2 upon returning from a vacation abroad.
After nearly a day in police custody and judicial proceedings, a court ordered his pretrial arrest on July 3.
“I had absolutely no intention of committing the offense of publicly insulting the religious values embraced by a segment of society. This performance is part of a show I have been staging in various cities across Türkiye for nearly three years. More than 100,000 people have watched it live, and not a single complaint has been filed claiming that this particular segment caused offense,” Göktaş said in his testimony, as quoted by local media.
