Comedian Bill Burr has defended his performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia several of his peers denounced him and others as sellouts.
As Breitbart News reported this week, a backlash has been brewing against comedians joining the festival, accusing them of profiting from a totalitarian regime.
“I took a principled stand. You don’t 9/11 your friends,” comedian Shane Gillis said about rejecting the Saudi offer — referring to the fact that 15 of the 9/11 terrorists were from the country.
Burr, however, feels differently, asserting that the people of Saudi Arabia should not be equated with the government.
“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,” he said on his Monday Morning Podcast. “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled.”
“You think everybody’s going to be screaming ‘Death to America’ and they’re going to have like fucking machetes and want to chop my head off,” Burr added. “Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world.”
Burr also expressed surprise over the audience’s youth and the variety of American restaurants available to them.
“Is that a Starbucks next to a Pizza Hut next to a Burger King next to a McDonald’s? They got a fucking Chili’s over here!” he joked. “I had to stop a couple times during the show and say, ‘I’ll be honest with you guys, I cannot fucking believe any of you have any idea who I am.’ It was just this great exchange of energy. They know their reputation. So they were extra friendly.”
The Old Dads star concluded that the people of Saudi Arabia just wanted to laugh.
“People are cool. Governments are the problem,” Burr said. “Every time I travel, I learn the same thing. And the people I met there? They just wanted to laugh. And they fucking did.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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