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Bill Burr is fired up.
The comedian and actor, 56, blasted insurance companies and praised accused UnitedHealthcare CEO-shooter Luigi Mangione while speaking about the LA fires during his Tuesday appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Burr revealed that, like many people in Los Angeles, he had to evacuate after flames threatened his home.
“I got lucky,” he said. “You know, the winds moved.”
“And I think everybody did a great job. Unlike the internet,” he added, alluding to the rapacious criticism of state and local officials’ response to the fires.
Burr went on to mock online critics who liken themselves to “fire experts” and bemoan how the fire was “mismanaged.”
“Mismanaged? Like some idiot on the internet knows how to manage the worst fire in LA? Sitting there in his underwear?” he continued.
Turning to speculation about what caused the many fires that tore through Southern California, Burr said, “I love how all the chatter out there is about bans on illegal immigrants and homeless people lighting fires.”
“They light fires every day,” he added. “They’re living outside, it’s f—ing cold.”
From Burr’s perspective, the media has its eye on the wrong topic and target.
“You know, and then they’re talking about looting. But CNN and Fox News are not going to bring up the insurance companies that are just gonna keep everybody’s premiums and still give themselves a bonus,” he said to applause from the audience.
“Yes! Free Luigi!” he exclaimed over the clapping, referencing Luigi Mangione, 26, who is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Mangione has pleaded not guilty.)
Drawing laughter from Kimmel and the crowd, Burr stuck to talking about Mangione.
“I love how they acted surprised, ‘How could that happen?’” he said, imitating media pundits (and likely insurance company executives).
“[The killer] wrote on the bullets why it happened,” Burr added. According to law enforcement, the bullets fired at Thompson were inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” allegedly referencing the book of the same name about “Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
A jovial Kimmel responded, “We’re still on Luigi?”
“I never left Luigi!” Burr replied.
The “Old Dads” star has been vocal about Mangione before.
“The funny thing when that CEO got whacked was watching CEOs have to be uncomfortable,” Burr said in an interview with Variety published Tuesday.
“I’m sure they didn’t learn anything, but it’s like: This is how you make everybody feel day to day as you apply pressure because ‘that’s how business is done,’” he also told the site. “How you leave this burning wreckage of destroyed lives as you ‘restructure’ and ‘consolidate.’ It was fun to see them worry.”
Burr also criticized the media’s coverage of Thompson’s murder last month on an episode of his “Anything Better?” podcast.
“They’re gangsters dude, f—ing gangsters, and then when one of them gets whacked or something they’re like, ‘Oh my god he was such a good guy,’” he said of CEOs in the healthcare industry, which he labeled “dirty game.”
Burr’s rage over home insurance companies follows recent reports that thousands of LA homeowners were dropped by their insurance companies in the days before the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out. Meanwhile, US insurers raked in record profits in 2023 — $87.6 billion from their property and casualty business alone — according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, as reported by The Guardian.
English (US)