Bill Murray made his very first Comic-Con appearance on Thursday, July 9 to promote his new film, Rock the Kasbah.

Bill Murray Makes Comic-Con Debut To Promote Rock The Kasbah

Murray took over Hall H on the first official day of the convention during Open Road’s presentation, making him the first big celebrity to appear in Hall H this Con. Wearing a khaki outfit complete with bandana, Murray made a grand entrance in character as Richie Lanz, a rock promoter. Murray walked down the aisles of Hall H amid screaming fans to Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”

In Rock the Kasbah, Murray stars as Lanz, a music manager who discovers a young musician in Afghanistan and takes him to compete in a national singing competition called Afghan Star. Directed by Barry Levinson and written by Mitch Glazer (Scrooged), the film also stars Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel and Scott Caan, but they were not in attendance. Murray spent some of his time at Comic-Con talking about his film and dishing on working with Bruce Willis and singing karaoke with Zooey Deschanel – “If she died tomorrow, I’d say her karaoke work would live forever.”

Bill Murray On Miley Cyrus, Confederate Flag

Murray also touched on a variety of topics during the panel, offering his opinion on Miley Cyrus, who appears in his upcoming Netflix Christmas special, and even on the Confederate Flag.

Murray surprised fans with a rousing defense of Cyrus, telling the crowd at Hall H, “I’m going to say this officially: Miley Cyrus is good. I was not particularly convinced, but Miley Cyrus is really f—king good. She can really sing. I thought she was a knucklehead crazy girl, the kind of girl you’d want to go on a road trip with. But she can really sing. She floored everybody: Paul Shaffer, George Clooney. I don’t wanna hear any bad rapping on Miley Cyrus.”

When asked a vague question about social media and the power to change society, Murray referenced the Confederate Flag debate currently raging on in South Carolina and other Southern states, noting, “There’s a flag flying from a building in South Carolina that people are really upset about. It’s gonna change. But it doesn’t change because people say so.”

Murray went on explain that change takes time, but it also takes individual change, adding, “You can only make it happen so fast. How do you make it change? It starts with yourself. We are slaves ourselves. We’re slaves to our own weaknesses. We’re slaves to our bodies, to our emotions. If you can free your own self, that’s the best thing you can do.”

Finally, while Murray didn’t directly mention Ghostbusters, he did hint that it was his favorite film to work on. When asked what his favorite role was, Murray teased, “Once upon a time, I did save the city of New York. And I had the coolest damn car to drive around Manhattan.”

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