Industry NewsOpinion

Bill Maher: How ‘Woke’ Became an ‘Eyeroll’

The old-school liberal torches the Left in a hard-charging chat with Ben Shapiro

The media has blood on its hands.

That’s not a comment from Joe Rogan, Russell Brand or even Tucker Carlson. It’s Bill Maher, the HBO star whose show offers a steady barrage of narrative disruptions in the Biden era.

Maher is now hailed in conservative circles for those takes despite his progressive stance on most issues. It helps explain why he joined Ben Shapiro on the host’s “Sunday Special” conversation.

Bill Maher | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 124

Famed Hollywood actor/producer Mark Duplass had to apologize for sharing kind words about Shapiro four years ago. Maher takes a different, more classically liberal, approach.

The veteran comic previously invited Shapiro on his “Real Time with Bill Maher” showcase. Over the weekend, Maher happily chatted with the Daily Wire co-founder.

And he won’t be apologizing for it.

That conversation found the two agreeing and disagreeing in equal measure. Maher’s take on the pandemic, and the media’s malfeasance in covering it, landed squarely on the former front.

“Seventy-eight percent of the people who died or are hospitalized are obese. And that’s another one that’s not a popular opinion to talk about, but I feel like I have to because it’s such a salient fact in this,” Maher said. “If you just said to somebody, ‘Okay, there’s an x factor in this … this x factor accounts for 78% who die or go to the hospital.’ Wouldn’t you be a curious? If you were a news organization, wouldn’t you be talking about that fact all the time?”

Maher acknowledged how the culture quickly evolved from attacking fat shamers to ignoring the impact obesity has on the human body.

That evolution, he warns, is killing people.

“Again, I’m not shaming people. I’m just saying we are never going to solve the health care crisis in this country until we get our arms around this thing, and we’re not allowed to talk about it or else you’re a bad person. Anyone who doesn’t, I’m sorry, you have blood on your hands. Anyone in the media who doesn’t talk about this because you’re so afraid of the reaction, you have blood on your hands because you are not doing these people a favor.”

He didn’t stop there.

Maher attacked the woke revolution with Shapiro, too, sharing how he initially sided with cultural forces promoting diversity and kindness. Then he learned the movement’s true agenda.

“Woke … has become an eye roll,” Maher says. “I only heard the term [woke] three or four years ago … and it was, like, alert to injustice? OK, I’m down with that.

“It became sort of a by-word for a lot of this goofy stuff, that’s what I’m always railing against,” he says. “That’s why they play me on Fox News now.”

Shapiro asked his reaction to appearing on a network which frowns on his political views.

“I haven’t changed. At all. My politics hasn’t changed. They’ve changed,” he says, noting a quick, and pointed, example. “Five years ago, no one was talking about Defunding the Police … that’s not me changing. That’s things changing. I’m reacting to it ”

He had other examples to bolster his point.

“Letting three-year-olds decide what gender they are. This wasn’t something five years ago. Free speech, used to be a left-wing thing we were proud of and owned. Now, that seems to be under attack,” he said.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be voting Republican any time soon, though.

Maher wrapped that part of the chat assailing Republicans for not supporting Climate Change initiatives and decrying the Jan. 6 riots, keeping part of his traditionally progressive persona intact.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button