


Response to the HBO hosts' comments were quick - including controversial Rep. He then glibly joked, "If this spike in trans children is all biological, why is it regional? Either Ohio is shaming them or California is creating them," before making a few more crude comments. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building? Say what you like about it, it’s not cowardly.HBO "Real Time" host Bill Maher was buried under an avalanche of criticism on Saturday after using his Friday night closing comments to ridicule trans kids and their need for gender-affirming care, saying they are only doing it because it's more "trendy" than being gay.Īfter suggesting the "LGBT population of America seems to be roughly doubling every generation," Maher added, " According to a recent Gallup poll, less than 1% of Americans born before 1946, that's Joe Biden's generation, identify that way, 2.6% of Boomers do, 4.2% of Gen X, 10.5% of Millennials and 20.8% of Gen Z, which means if we follow this trajectory, we will all be gay in 2054." In 2002, he lost an ABC show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, after he said of 9/11: “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. Maher has been fired for controversial comments before. The pressure on Maher follows CNN’s firing of the comedian Kathy Griffin, who said at a press conference on Friday that Donald Trump was “trying to ruin my life for ever” after she was pictured holding a mock-up of the US president’s severed head. On Friday night the author Reza Aslan tweeted: “I can’t believe Bill Maher said something racist, said no Muslim ever.” Maher has caused controversy with his views on religion, particularly Islam, trans rights and freedom of speech. “Just because Bill Maher is liberal and our friend, you don’t give him a pass … you never get the right to use that term.” “Bill Maher decided to get on television last night and sanitize and normalize the N-word,” Sharpton said. In New York City, civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton addressed the issue in his Saturday sermon. It’s therefore an attack on the American Creed. “Here’s what I wish I’d been quick enough to say in the moment: “Hold up, why would you think it’s OK to use that word? The history of the N-word is an attack on universal human dignity.

Me just cringing last night wasn’t good enough.
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But free speech comes with a responsibility to speak up when folks use that word. Comedians get latitude to cross hard lines. “Am walking off a redeye from ,” he wrote, before offering “three reflections on Bill Maher”.
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“ Trump has undeniably moved the posts re: what is acceptable in political discourse but we can’t sit idly by, as discourse breeds actions.”Įarly on Saturday, Sasse gave his view in a series of linked tweets. McKesson added: “And why does the audience think it was OK to laugh? And Ben Sasse doesn’t even flinch. “There are no explanations that make this acceptable.” Sasse kept quiet, before Maher said: “No, it’s a joke.”ĭeRay McKesson, a Black Lives Matter activist and former Baltimore mayoral candidate, led instant criticism on social media. The audience laughed and groaned, with some applause. In conversation with Maher, Sasse said the host would be welcome in Nebraska as “we’d love to have you work in the fields with us”. “We are removing his deeply offensive comment from any subsequent airings of the show.” “Bill Maher’s comment last night was completely inexcusable and tasteless,” read a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. HBO earlier said it would be removed from any subsequent airing of the edition of Real Time with Bill Maher in which Sasse discussed his new book. The word was offensive, and I regret saying it and am very sorry.” “Last night was a particularly long night as I regret the word I used in the banter of a live moment. “Friday nights are always my worst night of sleep because I’m up reflecting on the things I should or shouldn’t have said on my live show,” Maher said in a statement.
