Being a comedian these days means treading some pretty fine lines.

You want to poke the bear and ruffle feathers, but overstep the line and there’s always the risk of so-called ‘cancel culture’ kicking into overdrive.

During this weekend’s Saturday Night Live opening monologue, comedian Bill Burr didn’t mince his words, and he’s been met with plenty of criticism, as well as a great deal of praise for his no-nonsense take on some sensitive topics.

Via the LA Times, some of his comments on white women:

“I’ve got to tell you, the way white women somehow hijacked the woke movement … generals around the world should be analyzing this,” Burr said. “The woke movement was supposed to be about people of color not getting opportunities… finally making that happen. And it was about that for about eight seconds. And then somehow, white women swung their Gucci-booted feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line.”

He went on to say that white women “rolled around in the blood money” and stood by white males “through centuries of our crimes against humanity”.

It’s fair to say some people were triggered by those comments above, and then there were his comments on Gay Pride Month and slavery.

This from the New York Post:

“The month of June is Gay Pride month. That’s a little long, don’t you think, for a group of people that were never enslaved?’’ Burr said. “How did they get all of June?

“The black people were actually enslaved. They get February, they get 28 days of overcast weather. … How about you hook them up with July? These are equator people.”

One tweet that perfectly sums up how divided social media was:

This is exactly what why I was excited to see Bill Burr host SNL tonight pic.twitter.com/VYlucaP4kI

— Josiah. (@JosiahK716) October 11, 2020

You can find a more comprehensive cross-section of reactions in this BuzzFeed article, or you could make your own mind up and watch his monologue for yourself.

Off we go, then:

Bill Burr’s Monologue! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/oyK72fNxrO

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 11, 2020

[sources:latimes&nypost]