“Your legacy is now Riyadh”: Bill Burr defends Saudi Arabia comedy set—but fans aren’t buying it

Bill Burr used his latest Monday Morning Podcast episode to address mounting criticism surrounding his recent appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. The comedian spent the first several minutes of the Oct. 6, 2025, show explaining why he felt the outrage was misplaced, while also venting about how his words were being reshaped online.

“The sanctimonious is sanctimonian”

According to Burr, much of what was being circulated did not match reality. “So like these stories of like, ‘There was no women there, he just performed to the Royals.’”

“By the time they’re done with this sh*t, they’re going to say I went over there and did a one-on-one show in a f*cking tent staring at my toes,” he said. He insisted that the event had drawn 8,000 people, including Saudi citizens and diplomats.

Burr pointed out that the restrictions on comics had actually narrowed during negotiations.

“They had diplomats sitting down front in a nerve-wracking way for the performer to make sure that, you know, you didn’t talk about the two or three things that they said that they negotiated down to not talk about.”

“Once again, as I said before, whoever put together the comedy festival and everything, what it did for freedom of speech over there… Because like before it started, you couldn’t talk about all of this stuff, and then they whittled it down to just that. And that is how you know if you truly care about stuff like that. You gradually move towards something more positive.”

He also praised another comedian, without naming them, who had performed while openly gay.

Burr recounted the performer’s bold move, when they asked a pair of diplomats who stood up in the middle of their set, “Hey, where are you going? Are you going to go on Grindr?” He noted, “I mean, I’ve seen them all. I’ve never seen anybody—It’s like, I don’t have the balls to say that.”

Burr pushes back on critics

Burr argued that much of the criticism had more to do with online performance than with the festival itself, contrasting the scrutiny placed on comics with the silence around larger corporate events in the region.

“What everybody’s complaining about was on TV the week before, on a different event, and nobody said anything,” he argued. “So, you know, and that’s the difference between being a billion-dollar conglomerate and being an independent contractor.”

He also mocked the behavior of people who criticized him online but acted differently in person. “And then when you run into the person face-to-face, this is what’s always said. ‘Hey, man, hey, man. Hey man, how’s it going, man? Just checking in on you, man. Are you doing okay, man?’”

Fans and critics on his Instagram post about the podcast were not sympathetic towards Burr’s appearance at the festival.

“Your legacy is now Riyadh. That’s it,” reads one of the top comments.

Folks also took to his most recent Instagram post—an unrelated video discussing the Chiefs—to voice their disapproval.

“Bill Burr was one of my favorites…the Saudi sell out stuff is so disappointing,” reads one of the comments. “Why you going to Saudi Arabia, Bill?” reads another.

“Enjoying the comments, Bill? Did the Saudi Royals pat you on the head for the nice job you did?” asked a third.

X was no more forgiving. “This is such nonsense from Bill Burr,” wrote @sarahemclaugh in response to his statement. “‘The royals loved the show.’ Yeah, buddy, that’s because you didn’t perform any material that challenged the Saudi government or its censorship!

“Listening to Bill Burr explain himself about the Saudi stuff is hilarious,” added @HubPointless. “His story is that he thought the Saudis were gonna scream ‘Death to America’ or something and was impressed they had a Burger King and Starbucks.”

Burr closed the podcast intro by noting again that he had performed in front of “8,000 citizens,” including women in the audience. “But just remember, there was women at the show, four hotties down front, faces were not covered, smoke shows down front.”

The comedian also referenced Saudi Arabia’s tense political climate, saying comics had performed in a country “that had just been hit by two f*cking missiles, three missiles, whatever the f*ck it was.”

Burr maintained that he was open to questions, but he resisted giving easy soundbites.