'SNL' host Bill Burr divides fans after controversial opening monologue
Bill Burr didn't hold back in his controversial opening "Saturday Night Live" monologue.
Wearing a grey face covering, the 52-year-old comedian hosted the second episode of the season, using a portion of his monologue to criticize white women who "somehow hijacked the woke movement."
Burr described the "woke movement" as one revolving around "people of color not getting opportunities ... that they deserve." It was unclear whether he was explicitly referring to the Black Lives Matter movement amid the death of George Floyd after a white police officer kneeled on his neck.
"Somehow, white women swung their Gucci booted feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line," Burr said.
He added that he has "never heard so much complaining in my life from white women."
Bill Burr's Monologue! ?? pic.twitter.com/oyK72fNxrO
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 11, 2020
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"My life is so hard. My SUV and my heated seats. You have no idea what it's like to be me," Burr went on.
He then questioned the length of Pride Month in June, asking the audience if a month is "a little long, don't you think?"
Fans quickly took to Twitter, some criticizing Burr for being insensitive in the way he addressed racism and LGBTQ pride in his monologue.
One user, sushma, called it "the worst way possible" to tackle these topics.
who told bill burr he, a straight white man, should try to tackle homophobia and racism in the worst way possible in his snl monologue
— sushma (@wyattswoods) October 11, 2020
"Made it about one minute into Bill Burr's 'SNL' monologue before I had to change the channel," @sallyjh4889 wrote.
Made it about one minute into Bill Burr’s SNL monologue before I had to change the channel. In this cultural moment, SNL really thought the best choice for a host was a white male standup ranting about “Cancel Culture?”
— Sally Hourigan (@sallyjh4889) October 11, 2020
Bill Burr with the gay pride joke... uhhhh not it. The crowd doesn’t even know if they should laugh or not.
— wannabe elizabeth bennett (@shleepytiger) October 11, 2020
Others praised the comedian, with user Alaina Urquhart calling his comments about white women "a perfect joke."
"I love that Bill Burr made a perfect joke about white women making everything about us and then a bunch of white women on Twitter lost their minds because they think it was a mean joke. Thus....proving his point," she wrote.
I love that Bill Burr made a perfect joke about white women making everything about us and then a bunch of white women on Twitter lost their minds because they think it was a mean joke. Thus....proving his point. pic.twitter.com/sVKUjf00T6
— Alaina Urquhart (@AlainaToTheMax) October 11, 2020
Another user praised Burr for "speaking the truth" about white women and their performative activism.
Me seeing all these white women mad at Bill Burr for speaking the truth on snl pic.twitter.com/ekM9YaKaby
— CyclopsIsBetterThanWolverine (@Krakoan4Life) October 11, 2020
Bill Burr calling out white women for supporting the white patriarchal order in America for centuries...#SNL pic.twitter.com/Zw2wWolGGV
— janna (@janna6223) October 11, 2020
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'SNL' host Bill Burr divides fans after controversial opening monologue
