An unrepentant Bill Burr has doubled down on his defense of performing at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Appearing as a surprise guest during a live taping of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast over the weekend, the comedian said he doesn’t “give a fuck what all these phony fucking people are saying” and blamed bots for inflaming the backlash.
“The general consensus is, ‘How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh, you fucking piece of shit. I can’t believe you went to that place. I can’t find it on a map, and this bot said I was upset about it, so now I am,’” Burr said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s one thing to wear clothes made by sweatshop labor. It’s quite another to go to the factory and make ’em laugh. I can’t believe how much anger I had about this issue after it went viral.”
Echoing Dave Chappelle’s comments from his Riyadh set, unfavorably comparing free speech in the United States to Saudi Arabia, Burr said, “We’re moving towards them.”
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“Jesus Christ, we’re fucking grabbing moms and dads and sticking ’em in a van for making illegally made fucking tacos to go to alligator Alcatraz,” he said. “It’s fucking insane… Someday, they’re gonna be out of brown people to put in those vans. They’re still gonna have the vans, so you shouldn’t be feeling comfortable about it. Thinking that you’re not gonna be in it.”
Further deflecting the criticism, Burr turned his ire on fellow comedians, claiming he received “the most amount of shit” for the gig compared to “all of these sanctimonious cunts out there… who don’t really sincerely give a shit.” He once again cited the presence of Western institutions such as the Cheesecake Factory and Pizza Hut as a way to “pull them in.”
Burr continued the whataboutism by referencing previous criticism for a performance in Abu Dhabi. “Somebody [texted me], ‘Oh, you’re going over there to get that blood money, right?’ And I go, ‘Hey, just for the record, I’m also doing London, England on that tour, which is arguably the bloodiest fucking money out there.’”
The comedian concluded by saying he doesn’t “give a fuck what all these phony fucking people are saying” or whether he has to “fucking sit home for a little bit” due to the controversy. He reiterated his previous optimism about such events, stating that they “have to happen” to encourage progress. “It was necessary. It felt right afterward,” Burr said.
During an episode of his own podcast following the festival, Burr initially defended himself by saying he had a “great” experience in the Middle East and concluding that the people there are “just like us.”
Contrary to his belief, Burr isn’t the only comedian to receive backlash for performing at the festival. Jimmy Kimmel challenged Aziz Ansari over his decision on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, while lesbian comic Jessica Kirson apologized to fans and pledged to donate her fee to a human rights organization.
Meanwhile, Louis C.K. defended his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher by saying it felt like a “great way to get in and start talking.”
None of these defenses directly addresses Saudi Arabia’s reputation for human rights abuses and wider restrictions on free speech, which prompted comedians including David Cross, Marc Maron, and Shane Gillis to speak out against the festival.
“We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it’s complaining that we don’t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBTQ peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings),” Cross wrote in an open letter.
Other comedians who performed at the festival include Kevin Hart, Chris Tucker, Whitney Cummings, and Pete Davidson (whose father was a firefighter killed on 9/11).