Comedian and actor Bill Burr called out conservative pundit Ben Shapiro in a new interview with The New York Times for calling him "woke" over his comments about health insurance CEOs being "afraid."
Shapiro had lashed out at Burr over his December podcast rant in which he appeared sympathetic to Luigi Mangione, who was charged in December with second-degree murder, forgery, and three firearm-related offenses. The charges stem from the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan.
Reports suggest that Mangione underwent back surgery and may suffer from chronic back pain. Authorities revealed the suspect had written a manifesto criticizing the health insurance industry. Police noted that shell casings at the scene were engraved with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” possibly referencing the 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
Burr, in response to the news, said the following on his Monday Morning Podcast in December:
“None of these news programs are talking about the incredible lack of empathy from the general public about this because of how these insurance companies treat people when they are at their most vulnerable."
“I love that f**king CEOs are fucking afraid right now. You should be! By and large, you’re all a bunch of selfish, greedy f**king pieces of s**t, and a lot of you are mass murderers. You just don’t pull the trigger. That’s why it looks clean.”
Shapiro caught wind of Burr's remarks shortly afterward and published a post for The Daily Wire in which he derided Burr as "woke":
"I used to enjoy Bill Burr’s work. On occasion, I still do. He’s a comedian, which means he’s very hit or miss. Once upon a time, I was such a fan that I actually bought tickets for me, my wife, and two of my friends to go see him."
"It turned out to be one of the worst shows I have ever seen in my life because Burr has become woke. Over time, I think he became embarrassed that many people on the Right thought he was very funny, so he decided he was going to go woke." ...
"That disconnect has continued. Not long ago, he appeared on Bill Maher’s show where he declared solidarity with the pro-Hamas students on campuses. Now, he is proclaiming he is very happy that CEOs are walking around in fear for their lives."
"We tend to give comedians more leeway to say edgy things because they’re trying to be funny. But it’s not clear to me that Burr is attempting to be funny. This week, he explained that he is perfectly fine with CEOs having to live with full-time security because they fear they might be shot. Because, after all, they are murderers too."
He also called Burr "evil":
"Burr openly cheered the murder of the UnitedHealthcare executive because he says CEOs should live in fear if they don’t act in the way that he would have them act — in a system that he has no fixes for, by the way." ...
"What he said is truly evil. He’s saying you should live in fear if you’re the CEO of a company that does things that Burr deems to be bad or wrong. Now, we have laws on the books, for example, that prevent crimes like fraud and embezzlement. We have laws on the books that punish criminal activity."
"If you don’t like the system, and many people don’t, the proper response to that system would be legislation. In a democratic republic, the way to fix problems is to have open discussions of the details of those problems and then craft regulatory or legal fixes."
"You do not say that it is a good thing that CEOs should live in fear of their lives because Burr deems them morally inferior."
When alerted during his recent New York Times interview to Shapiro's remarks, Burr replied:
“All he knew is if he put ‘woke’ on what I said, he would make more money. I don’t know who he is, but that guy is a jerk-off.”
Many appreciated Burr's response.
Mangione’s defense attorney argues that his arrest and the police search at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s late last year were unlawful. In a court filing added to the Pennsylvania court docket on Friday, his Pennsylvania lawyer, Thomas Dickey, claimed that Mangione was never properly read his Miranda rights.
Dickey stated that officers from the Altoona Police Department "continued to interrogate and question the Defendant without any reading of his Miranda Rights."
He also described the officers' explanation for approaching Mangione as "specious and unreasonable," adding that they never informed him whether he was free to leave or why he was being detained.
Additionally, Mangione’s New York attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has raised concerns about his treatment in Pennsylvania custody. During a recent hearing, she argued that police body camera footage suggests her client’s constitutional rights were "violated."
