Bill Burr Says Backlash to Riyahd Comedy Festival Is Full of ‘Straight-Up Lies,’ But His Fans Aren’t Buying It

Bill Burr is doubling down on his defense of the Riyadh Comedy Festival and its participants, calling critics of the event “sanctimonious” and accusing them of taking his comments out of context. Unfortunately for Burr, there is no context where “the royals loved the show” doesn’t read like him bootlicking a bunch of billionaires.

At the end of last month, Burr headlined the Riyadh Comedy Festival, a comedy event funded by the Saudi Royal Family and organized by General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh, an Advisor to the Royal Court who has an entire wing of the Riyadh jail named after him for how many dissidents he has detained there. Despite his orchestration of the Riyadh Comedy Festival, Al-Sheikh apparently didn’t make much of an impression on Burr, because the comedian can never seem to remember the fact that the Royal Court organized the event and the Royal Family personally cut him a check — although, right now, Burr probably wishes he could take a page out of Al-Sheikh’s book regarding the treatment of journalists.

On yesterday’s episode of the Monday Morning Podcast, Burr went on the offensive against critics of the Riyadh Comedy Festival, claiming that bad-faith actors in the media are keeping the story alive in order to “make more money.” However, knowing now what Burr is willing to do for some blood-and-oil-soaked cash, Burr’s fans are declining his gilded victim card.

During last week’s episode of the Monday Morning Podcast, Burr claimed that playing a show in Saudi Arabia funded by the Royal Family was “definitely top three experiences I’ve had.” Burr’s praise for “whoever organized the festival” (Al-Sheikh) further enraged many of his fans who already felt betrayed that the “billionaires are rabid dogs” guy would perform for the pleasure of the most bloodthirsty billionaires on the planet.

But yesterday, Burr didn’t feel the need to answer fans’ questions about where his disdain for the ruthlessly rich was hiding when he went on his Saudi Arabian vacation, and the comic instead opted to clear up some minor misconceptions about the Riyadh Comedy Festival while questioning the motives of his critics. “The sanctimonious is sanctimony-ing,” Burr quipped at the top of the podcast, saying of the news media’s treatment of him post-Riyadh, “The level of straight-up lies is just, it’s wild.”

“These stories of just, like, there was no women there, he just performed to the Royals… By the time they’re done with this shit, they’re going to say I went over there and did a one-on-one show in a fucking tent, staring at my toes … for the head fucking guy, whoever the hell it is over there,” Burr ranted, referencing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, to whom Al-Sheikh answers directly.

“Once again, I performed in an arena over there, in the round, there was 8,000 people at the show, okay? It was citizens,” Burr clarified. “And then they had diplomats sitting down front in a nerve-racking way for the performer, to make sure you didn’t talk about the two or three things that they said — that they negotiated down to not talk about.” 

Those “two or three things” included the entire Saudi government, legal system, culture and Royal Family, according to the leaked censorship guidelines that Burr has characterized as a gracious compromise.

Burr continued, “Once again, as I said before, whoever put together the comedy festival and everything (Al-Sheikh), what it did for freedom of speech over there — because, before it started you couldn’t talk about all of this stuff, and then they whittled it down to just that — and that is how, you know, if you truly care about stuff, you gradually move towards something more positive. Alright?”

“Just remember, there was women at the show, four hotties down front, faces were not covered, smokeshows down front. Eight thousand citizens is what I performed in front of,” Burr concluded his thoughts, urging his critics to “take an honest look at your own backyard” if they still have a problem with his Riyadh performance.

Unsurprisingly, after Burr addressed exactly zero of the major criticisms levied against him for his participation in a whitewashing event that the Human Rights Watch begged him to boycott, his clarification about the demographics of the Riyadh audience didn’t assuage the outrage of his fanbase. 

In the comment section under the latest MMP episode, fans continued to tear apart Burr’s excuses and his new attempt to distract them with minutiae rather than addressing any of their main concerns about his Saudi trip. “Bill Burr’s next gig United Healthcare corporate gig, ‘hey once you get to know the top brass, ah not bad dudes they’re just like us,’” one of the top commenters wrote, referencing Burr's public support for Luigi Mangione, accused shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“Billy would LOVE to answer our questions but he’s just booked a gig as a porta potty in Dubai, pays real well and they have a macdonald’s right out front,” another fan referenced Burr’s tiptoeing around all of the major criticisms against him.

“I’d have preferred if he’d just said something like, ‘I told you I’d do it for a pile of cash,’ instead of trying to frame it as some noble mission to advance freedom of speech over there,” another Burr listener opined. “Now I know he’s both a hypocrite and a coward, instead of just the former.”

One more advised, “Ole Billy Bonesaw. He can insulate himself and tell himself it’s just a select few internet trolls that are angry. It’s not a tiny minority that are pissed. We aint forgetting.”

Over on Reddit, and similarly to how YouTube and Twitter have reacted to Burr’s rationalization for doing Riyadh, Burr’s fans, current and former, took his new comments about as well as the Saudi Crown Prince reacts to an insulting tweet from a journalist. “Stop using bullshit strawman arguments like people making money in clips or my favorite you and the gang of money-grabbing whores are progressing free speech in murderous regime,” one fan wrote in the Bill Burr subreddit. “You are a court jester who is whitewashing for oppressive monarchy who literally kill and enslave anyone who disagrees with their religious doctrine or leadership. They are trillionaires who played a big part in 9/11.”

In the main comedy subreddit, fans were just as unimpressed with Burr’s new comments, with one pointing out, “One thing that irked me instantly how he pointed out people will clip him because (it) makes them money and insinuated they just do it for money because they are greedy but this guy accepts blood money from Saudis.”

“Calling critics of what he did sanctimonious? He made a living being sanctimonious about billionaires and corporations, now he’s sold out and he’s getting a little heat he’s losing the plot,” another user wrote. “My favorite bit was where he said he took the gig to enhance freedom of speech, I think he actually believes this shit.”

One fan pointed out of Burr’s selectiveness in responding to only the most obscure criticisms, “He is addressing the extreme arguments, NOT the basic mainstream one that he is helping a murderous regime whitewash its image. The regime paid his salary. He needs to address the valid concerns, and not cherry pick out the nutjobs.”

At this point, it’s becoming very hard to find anyone willing to take Burr’s defense at face value, which should concern him — if all of Burr’s thousands of critics are making money off of their “sanctimonious” attacks, then why isn’t he getting a cut?