What the Heck Was Going on in Bill Burr's 'SNL' Monologue About Pride?

Bill Burr came for Pride Month in his opening monologue for Saturday Night Live.

The white straight 52-year-old comedian recently experienced his first Pride on a visit to New York City, when he observed packed crowds on the streets and asked a stranger for a reason.

"Tank tops! Zero percent body fat! Two guys kissing! I didn’t know that! That’s what I learned, the month of June is Gay Pride Month," he said. "That’s a little long, don’t you think? For a group of people that were never enslaved?"

Burr, to the awkward titterings from the crowd of the Saturday variety show, then proceeded to play the game of oppression Olympics. “How did they get all of June?” he asked. “Black people were actually enslaved. They get February! They get 28 days of overcast weather. The sun goes down at 4 in the afternoon. Everyone’s shivering. Nobody wants to go on the parade.”

“How about you hook them up with July? These are equator people. Give them the sun for 31 days. These gay Black people, they can celebrate ... 61 days of celebrating.”

Burr, known for roles in The King of Staten Island, Breaking Bad, and F Is for Family, clearly knew the buttons he was pressing. "I'll probably get canceled," he quipped in another segment about cancel culture. He also joked about how white women appropriated wokeness after they "swung their Gucci-footed feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line."

The monologue sparked divided reactions. Bisexual author Roxane Gay counted herself a fan.

Others were not.

Others still noted that even if there is a conversation to be had about the differences between Pride Month and Black History Month, Burr is not the one to helm it — particularly as LGBTQ+ rights are on the line should Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

"Civil rights are in danger and, with no peg whatsoever (as Burr said, Pride Month was in June ... and the parade was canceled this year because of COVID), he is mocking the celebration?" The Daily Beast's Kevin Fallon wrote. "Arguing — though again, with a sharp point about inequity in cultural celebration — for a minimizing of that annual validation?"

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