‘How can you talk about your mother like that?’: Bo Burnham faces backlash amid death announcement, social media wipeout
Stand-up comedian, musician, and YouTube star Bo Burnham has raised eyebrows with an announcement of his "death" and a subsequent disappearance from social media.
When Burnham, who has over three million subscribers on YouTube, suddenly deleted all of his posts on his X and Instagram accounts, fans turned to his death announcement from a few years ago for possible answers. A viral post on X recently shared an older screenshot of the comedian's website, where he’d posted on his 'About Me' page a cryptic message: “I came out of my mother's p*ssy on August 21st, 1990 and I will die on January 17, 2024. I also have a dog named Bruce and I love him.”
In a 2015 YouTube interview with FSU Torch, the student-run campus newspaper of Ferris State University, Burnham addressed the then-recent post by explaining his death would be by suicide due to his dog’s passing.
“I will kill myself,” Burnham said plainly. “Because my dog’s gonna die who I just got and I love him more than anything, and when he goes I have to go.”
Burnham went on to say his dog has a “small bomb in him” set for January 17, 2024, which is how he knows his pet will die on that date.
Known for his satirical and offbeat comedic style, some fans have chalked Burnham’s social media disappearance up to dark humor, while others assume he may be gearing up for the release of new material.
“I’m going to choose to believe that means we're getting a new special and not that it means something bad,” one X user resolved.
“I bet it's just a marketing scheme but I want him to know I hate this marketing scheme,” another user commented.
As his original death announcement recirculates on X, there were also viral critiques of Burnham’s language regarding his birth.
“‘I came out of my mothers p*ssy on august 21, 1990' why do men speak about their mothers this way," one user posted, with another one replying, “Men will be misogynistic and objectify even their own mothers for a laugh.’”
A third user wrote, “Remind me to never have a son.”
Burnham, who has three Netflix comedy musical specials, has yet to address the public speculation around his “death” or the rumors of new material.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Bo Burnham’s team via email for more information.
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