This Guy Claims He Was Bullied by Bo Burnham in High School — Some Disagree
"We are not friends. Don't speak on my behalf."
Published Oct. 8 2025, 5:42 p.m. ET
The rise and perhaps plateau of Bo Burnham is interesting if you've never paid attention to a comedian who also plays a musical instrument as part of their schtick.
Bo was discovered in 2006 via YouTube, before it was a place primarily used for ASMR content and video versions of your favorite podcasts, thus making the point of podcasts useless.
Bo's pithy little piano quips about his family led to more serious songs about intense subject matters like white supremacy and homosexuality, but comedy!
He took his act to the stage and began performing in comedy clubs and colleges. The songwriter did a few comedy specials, got into movies, and helped some folks through the COVID-19 pandemic through his fourth special, "Inside."
Now, a man is claiming he was bullied in high school by Bo? Let's get into it.
This guy says Bo Burnham was his high school bully.
Apropos of nothing, a man named Connor Doherty has decided to reveal to the world that Bo Burnham was his high school bully. In a post to Instagram dated Oct. 6, 2025, Connor told some stories about his time with Bo at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass.
Fun fact: in 2025, this private school costs nearly $35,000 a year.
Bo and Connor did theater together at the all-boys Catholic school. According to Connor, their friendship was already doomed due to the fact that he was a freshman when Bo was a senior.
By Connor's own admission, he was kind of goofy looking at that age and was "trying way too hard to be Bo's friend."
Connor doesn't believe Bo was mean because he was a "local celebrity," but rather because he was a straight guy in a theater program.
Per Connor, all straight guys in theater programs are sociopaths. He proceeds to drop a few stories that aren't great, such as the time Connor was talking about a girl and was interrupted by Bo saying, "You know you like guys, right?"
To Connor's credit, he admitted that Bo clocked him. He is gay!
Connor thought he and Bo were friends.
A few other examples feel like classic, intense teasing moves that are a step above a terrible comedy from the 1980s. Every time Connor told a story, Bo convinced people to say IDGAF, which stands for "I don't give a f--k."
Connor goes on to say that looking back on this time, he was being bullied, but in his "French vanilla fantasy," Bo was teasing him because they were friends.
Connor was given an opportunity to prove his loyalty to Bo when someone was talking s--t about him in a Facebook group.
"I just jumped in and said, 'Bo's one of my really good friends. He's an awesome guy. You don't know what you're talking about.'" On the surface, that's nice, but this was met with a message of Bo who wrote, "We are not friends. Don't speak on my behalf."
Then he blocked Connor.
To be clear, Connor has no hard feelings towards Bo and really likes his ... girlfriend, Phoebe Bridgers. For us, the best part about this story is people defending Bo with their whole keyboards in the comments.
"Note: I harbor no ill will toward Bo. I’m sure he’s a perfectly ok person now," Connor added in his comments.