Billy Eichner Talks 'Fascinating and Absurd' Backlash Over His Comments on Bros ' Poor Box Office

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Billy Eichner remains proud of his new film Bros, despite its poor box office performance.

The Emmy Award nominee, 44, responded to the discourse around the gay romantic comedy at the New Yorker Festival on Friday, after he blamed the movie's low opening weekend on homophobes on Twitter earlier this week.

"It's been fascinating and absurd. I mean, I am so proud of the movie. I'm mostly just proud that the movie is out there. I mean, we worked on it for five years," Eichner said. "We wanted to make a Nora Ephron movie with horny gay guys, and it's inspired a lot of think pieces and op-eds. I didn't know people were so interested in me."

RELATED: Billy Eichner Reacts to His Gay Rom-Com 'Bros'' Poor Box Office: 'Just the World We Live in'

He explained that there were "a lot of factors" to the movie's performance, including the fact that "the biggest comedy stars are taking their movies to streaming. And for good reason! That seems to be where people want to watch these movies."

"I still love seeing these movies in the theater. I grew up going to see all these romantic comedies at the movie theater with my parents," Eichner added. "Obviously things change over time and the way we consume culture evolved."

Universal Studios

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Eichner credited Universal for taking "a bold swing to open this movie in this many theaters," while referring back to his Twitter thread, in which he mentioned a "theater chain in the south and in the midwest that called Universal over the summer and said, 'We're not playing this trailer.' "

"We live in a divided country in that way, and it depends on where you live. Homophobia is a bigger problem than how it pertains to this silly rom-com," he continued. "But do I think it's a factor? Yes, in certain parts of the country, I think it was a factor."

"Though to be honest, we really didn't make the movie for homophobes anyway. This is an R-rated gay rom-com. It was never intended as a movie to try to convince people who don't like gay people that we're normal and soft and cuddly and okay to love. It's so not that movie. So, it's complicated, and I honestly find the whole thing to be very silly when you take a bird's-eye view of it all — it's just a comedy," Eichner added.

Universal Pictures/YouTube Bros (2022)

Eichner previously spoke to PEOPLE about the importance of the film, which boasts an entirely LGBTQ main cast and marks one of the first gay romantic comedies to be released theatrically by a major Hollywood studio.

"It's such a big deal for me," he said last month. "It's a big deal for LGBTQ folks in Hollywood, for viewers, and also for straight [people], who still make up the majority of the audience."

RELATED VIDEO: Billy Eichner "Wanted to Get It Right" With Groundbreaking Rom-Com 'Bros'

Eichner added: "It's a cliche to say it's surreal, but it really does feel surreal. When [the studio] greenlit the movie, I couldn't believe it. But then I thought, 'Oh, they're never actually going to make it.' Then they decided to make it. Then we were walking around Manhattan shooting a romantic comedy like all those romantic comedies I grew up loving."

Bros is now in theaters nationwide.