That Defense Is Not Going to Fly, Bill Burr

In defending his appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, Bill Burr took an unexpected tack. I expected him to defend the gig — paid for by one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet — by saying America is just as bad. Instead, he took the opposite approach, celebrating the fact that the audience in Saudi Arabia is “just like us,” meaning fans of comedy.

“It was great to experience that part of the world and to be a part of the first comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia,” Burr said on his Monday Morning podcast. “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that I’ve been talking to are saying, ‘Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see real stand-up comedy.’ It was a mind-blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences I’ve had. I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things.”

He also claimed that the restrictions were negotiated down to only a few points: They couldn’t make fun of the Saudi royals, and they couldn’t make fun of religion.

In the end, however, Burr realized that Saudis are no different from Americans in many ways. “You think everybody’s going to be screaming ‘death to America’ and they’re going to have like f***ing machetes and want to, like, chop my head off, right? Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world. I thought this place was going to be really tense. And I’m thinking like: ‘Is that a Starbucks next to a Pizza Hut next to a Burger King next to McDonald’s … ? They got a f***ing Chili’s over here!’”

He also added that the audience was “extra friendly” because they knew their reputation.

Here’s the problem with Burr’s “defense.” The problem was never the Saudi people. The problem with the Iranian regime is not the Iranian people; the problem with the Netanyahu government is not the Israelis — the majority of whom stopped supporting the war in Gaza long ago — and the problem with America is not the people who didn’t vote for this authoritarian regime.

The problem is the Saudi government, and it’s the Saudi government that backed a truck full of money to Burr’s house. Burr might argue that he was simply bringing comedy to people who deserve to laugh, and on the surface, that sounds noble. But that’s not what’s happening here. Bill Burr is giving the Saudi government exactly what it wanted: a positive portrait of Saudi Arabia. Yes, the Saudi people are no different than the rest of us — they eat at Chili’s too! — but Saudi journalists are being killed by their government, which, as David Cross noted, has “SLAVES for f**k’s sake!!!” The Saudi people are victims of the very government that paid Burr to go home and tell the rest of the world that Saudi Arabia is a great place with great people, and that performing for the Saudi royals was one of the three best experiences of his life. Cultural exchange doesn’t excuse propaganda, and in this case, the exchange only served the regime.

This is exactly what Human Rights Watch warned against: comedy-washing. And it’s exactly what Bill Burr has done. So no, Burr. That’s not going to fly. And somehow, I’ve lost even more respect for him because he apparently doesn’t even realize he’s become a tool for the Saudi royal family.

Source: Monday Morning Quarterback via THR