“Billy on the Street” Star Accuses Burger King of Ripping Off His Concept for Commercial
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Scott Olson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Billy Eichner, known for his frantic antics on the popular Funny or Die Web series, Billy on the Street, is accusing fast food giant Burger King of ripping off his act for a commercial — and he has a posse of celebrities backing him up.
Eichner is known for taking to the streets in the company of celebrities, among them Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, and then yelling questions about those same celebrities at ordinary people.
In the Burger King commercial, a male character yells a question at a pedestrian, asking him whether he knows how much chicken nuggets would cost.
Eichner has tweeted his displeasure about the alleged ripoff of his concept, writing: “Hey, @BurgerKing, thanks for stealing my act for ur new commercial!! Except its not as funny & everyone knows u stole it. GET YOUR OWN IDEAS.”
Eichner is now getting support from some famous friends. Fellow comedians including Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow — and numerous fans — have tweeted their support of Eichner.
Rogen tweeted: “Yo @BurgerKing, stop stealing from the hilarious @billyeichner and stick to what you’re good at: giving me diarrhea.”
Actor and comedian Michael Ian Black tweeted: “Hey @burgerking, you were stupid if you think hiring some random actor to rip off @billyeichner was going to work. I WAS AVAILABLE!!!”
Eichner tweeted that he would “put all this anger into the next season of #BillyOntheStreet!”
Burger King did not reply to ABC News’ request for a comment.
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