Bill Burr did not play nice when he dished out Saturday Night Live’s opening monologue this week. The 52-year-old standup comic took shots at anti-maskers, White women who co-opted the “woke movement” and cancel culture, among other targets. During his rant against cancel culture (the act of publicly shaming a notable figure for offensive comments), he noted one of the most headline-grabbing incidents of the year, the renewed backlash against John Wayne.
The iconic actor delivered racist remarks in a 1970 Playboy interview, claiming he believed “in white supremacy until the Blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.” He also didn’t “feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves.” The comments have caused modern celebrations of the late actor, such as museum exhibits and airport names, to face scrutiny. Burr does not think the backlash is warranted, not because he agrees with Wayne’s comments but because Wayne is dead and was born in an earlier generation.
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“How stupid is that ‘cancel’ thing. They’re literally running out of people to cancel. They’re going after dead people now,” Burr said. “They’re trying to cancel John Wayne. It’s like ‘Yeah dude, God did that 40 years ago.’ They’re all up in arms. They’re like ‘Did you hear what he said in that interview in Playboy in 1970? Can you believe that?’ It’s like ‘Yeah, he was born in 1907. That’s what these people sounded like.’”
He added, “You never talked to your grandparents and brought up the wrong subject, and all of a sudden it went off the rails? Like ‘Oh, Grandma, just keep making the cookies!’ You don’t bring up race and religion with your grandparents. You keep it simple.”
This Wayne remark, paired with his other dicey jokes, stirred up controversy. The comments rubbed many SNL viewers the wrong way, but others defended Burr, saying that viewers missed his point. Scroll through to read some of the discourse around the Wayne portion of the monologue.
If you take yourself too seriously you probably will have an issue with Bill Burr’s monologue AND you probably want to cancel John Wayne. #SNL
— Jay 🏳️🌈 💛🐝 (@DiamondHunter80) October 11, 2020
So…I’m not sure how I feel about Bill Burr. I do kinda agree with his joke about people trying to cancel John Wayne, who is dead, being kinda silly but then he went on a tirade about Pride and I don’t know. #SNL
— Dustin Killips (@SonicBlueRanger) October 11, 2020
Are you shitting me. That was old material. Black History Month….John Wayne….he blew it. He is pretty funny, but he didn’t bring his A game.
— Romo (@juanlove4u) October 11, 2020
“We” were laughing are heads off and “we” love Bill Burr and I’m old enough to remember John Wayne. If we can’t laugh at our “blind spots” then we need to stop pointing out the blind spots of others.
— Terry Van Loon (@terry_loon) October 11, 2020
@billburr decrying cancel culture by defending John Wayne is just some real stupid shit. Save it for Rogan.
— G R O S S (@ew_grosss) October 11, 2020
who tf has talked about john wayne recently. what is bill burr whining about
— nintendo switch hitter (@hypercanigula) October 11, 2020
That John Wayne joke Bill Burr told on SNL was really funny and that room full of people hardly laughed at it. Bastards.
— Daniel Farias (@defarias44) October 11, 2020
Call me a boring, insufferably earnest idpol tryhard if you must, but he’s an American Gervais, just a standard Reddit-issue reactionary whose interest in marginalised people only extends as far as it gives him an excuse to shit on others
— Online presence (@BuzzkillSquad) October 11, 2020
Was it the fake not knowing what pride was? Or when he called women bitches? Or bringing up John Wayne to defend being a asshole? What part of that greatness really resonated with you?
— D. (@deadfootdancer) October 11, 2020
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