Bruno Mars is clearly not done laughing at those gambling debt rumors.

While opening The Romantic Tour in Las Vegas on Friday night, the 16-time Grammy winner turned one of the internet’s favorite Bruno conspiracy theories into part of the show. During a moment onstage with Anderson .Paak, Mars joked that he had paid off the casino “a long time ago,” taking a swipe at the claims that he had racked up massive debt while performing in Vegas.

The bit started when .Paak, in full form, pretended to get sentimental about the night. “I hate to make this about me, but when I think about how much debt — I mean, how many steps it took to get here, I get emotional,” he joked. Mars jumped right in with the punchline, telling him he was “debt-free” and had “paid the casino off a long time ago,” sending .Paak into a celebratory praise dance.

This rumor has been following Mars for a while now. In 2024, speculation spread online that he was supposedly millions in debt to Park MGM, where he has held a Las Vegas residency for years. Park MGM shut that down at the time, calling the allegations “completely false,” but that has not stopped Mars from folding the gossip into his public persona every chance he gets.

He has done it before, too. Last summer, after popping out at ROSÉ’s Los Angeles concert, Mars joked on Instagram that he was “almost out of debt,” keeping the bit alive in a way only made it funnier.

At this point, he seems less interested in denying the rumor than in owning it so completely that it stops having any sting.