Did Bill Burr’s SNL Monologue Go Too Far?

A couple of things about Bill Burr. He’s a comedian who’s known for his raw and unfiltered standup routine. He targets…everyone and is unforgiving in his delivery. 

Mr. Burr hosted Saturday Night Live and his opening monologue was exactly what you’d come to expect from him and people…are surprised. And outraged. Or pleased.

It all depends on who you ask.  

The comedian addressed a number of topics including cancel culture, white women, and Pride Month.

As you see above, he began innocently enough with an acknowledgment of “the difficult times” of the past year and praised the audience for wearing masks to respect the safety protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic. Though he said it “makes him feel comfortable,” he also said it doesn’t bother him should anyone not wear a mask. “Take out your grandparents. Take out your weak cousin with the asthma, I don’t care. It’s your decision,” he said. “If you’re that dumb and you want to kill your own family members, by all means do it.”

Burr took aim at cancel culture, explaining that it’s come to the point where “they’re literally running out of people to cancel.” “They’re going after dead people now. They’re trying to cancel John Wayne. It’s like, God did that 40 years ago,” he said.

Burr turned his attention to white women who have “hijacked the woke movement.” “Generals around the world should be analyzing this,” he said. Explaining that “the woke movement was supposed to be about people of color not getting opportunities that they deserve,” Burr argued that that all changed in “eight seconds.”

“Then somehow, white women swung their Gucci booted feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line,” he said. “I don’t know how they did it. I’ve never heard so much complaining in my life from white women.”

“The nerve of you white women,” he added before attempting to “go back in history” to explain his argument. “You guys stood by us toxic white males through centuries of our crimes against humanity. You rolled around in the blood money, and occasionally, when you wanted to sneak off and hook up with a Black dude, if you got caught, you said it wasn’t consensual. Yeah, that’s what you did! …. So, why don’t you shut up, sit down next to me, and take your talking to?”

Closing out his monologue, Burr talked about Pride Month in which he asked if a month is “a little too long” for the celebrations. “For a group of people that were never enslaved. How did they get all of June?” He further argued that, in comparison, Black people only get “28 days of overcast weather” in February. “How about you hook them up with July?”

No surprise that Burr’s monologue drew both criticism and praise across social media. That’s what happens and where we are. It looked to me that if you were a Burr fan, you enjoyed it and if you weren’t, you thought it was unfunny or forced. I didn’t see many people changing sides or debating the ideas he was sharing.

Which side were you on?