Comedian Bill Burr Loses It, Says Conservatives Calling Him 'Woke' Are 'Racists' And 'Cowards'
Comedian Bill Burr lashes out at conservatives over woke criticism
Comedian Bill Burr has really gone off the deep end.
Burr, who cannot handle criticism, has reverted from being a generally funny comedian in the pre-Donald Trump era, to being yet another lame political lecturer. In a profession that's full of such examples, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and the like, Burr used to stand out. But Trump seems to have broken him, as he revealed in a new interview for Vulture.
When asked about criticism he's faced from the political right, including commentator Ben Shapiro, since his turn into woke commentary, Burr went ballistic.
"He doesn’t even know what that word means," Burr said about Shapiro and "woke." "His definition of woke is white liberals’ definition of woke, and they didn’t even know what it was; they just took the word from black people. That’s the worst thing about our people — not only do we take from other cultures, we don’t even take the time to understand the definition."
He wasn't even close to done even after that absurdity.
Bill Burr speaks onstage at the Netflix Adult Animation Q&A and Reception on April 20, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)
Bill Burr Calls Conservatives ‘Racist,' Displays Spectacular Ignorance
Burr wasn't done with Ben Shapiro, saying that he doesn't view Shapiro as an adult after hearing his criticism.
"That f****** guy," Burr said, about Shapiro. "He was trying to bring me into his fold. At one point, the guy liked me and then, all of a sudden, I’m a f****** a**hole. I’m supposed to look at that guy like he’s an adult?"
In response to the political right saying that Burr has become more politically left with his "comedy," Burr once again lashed out.
"Racists. They’re racists. They send pictures of monkeys to me and my wife [the actress Nia Renee Hill]. They’re f***** horrible people. And they’re cowards, and they never say it to your face."
Obviously, racism towards Burr's wife is unacceptable. But the "woke" critique sure sounds like it's hit a nerve. Because it's clear that he's rising to a new level of anger directed at the political right for correctly pointing out how he's changed over time. And in the process, become less funny.
He claims to criticize both sides, poking fun at the left voting for Joe Biden despite his obvious mental decline.
"I trash ’em both because that is my job," Burr said to Vulure. "I can’t fix the political system, but when I do stand-up, if I start trashing, like, Trump, I’d hear the left in the crowd go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ And I’d be like, ‘The f***? You voted for a guy that is staring off into space. Your guy literally should be in a f**** home. What are you patting yourself on the back for? Your f***** party has not let you choose your candidate since Obama’s second term. You’re liberal? That’s f***** insane.’ I’m not flying either one of their flags; it’s the people who pay them that’s the problem. And they’re always distracting us with other stuff."
But this "both sides are awful" line is not how he's actually been behaving, and it's why the criticism started. He's either too blind or self-obsessed to see it, but that doesn't make it less true. And the reactions to his seeming change of heart from the political right are in large part because the "woke" left is diametrically opposed to comedy. So Burr's embrace of "woke" as a movement comes across as hypocritical, relative to how he used to perform.
Not to mention that his attack on Shapiro and conservatives for misusing "woke" is wildly inaccurate. And how defensive he is of "woke" as a terminology shows that, deep down, he knows he deserves the moniker and criticism, despite trying to avoid it. That's the real issue here and why he lashes out; he's not who he used to be, and it makes him angry to hear the truth pointed out.