Bill Maher Did What No Late Night Comic Dared
Atheist calls out both parties for ignoring, fueling rise in shocking bigotry
The man who gave us “Religulous” has come to the Jewish people’s aid.
Bill Maher has watched in horror as antisemitism spiked worldwide following the Oct. 7 terror attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and captured hundreds more.
It’s even worse than that. Some Democrats and Republicans have either failed to acknowledge the constant harassment, and worse, of Jewish people or promoted it.
Ask Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s popular Jewish Governor. He was incredulously passed over for the VP slot in 2024 by the Democrats, despite leading a must-win swing state.
Hmmm.
Late Night TV has been mostly silent on the issue.
So while Stephen Colbert is being feted for his “truth-telling” decade at CBS’s “The Late Show,” Maher actually did something about this rise in bigotry.
His May 15 “Real Time with Bill Maher” monologue skewered anti-Israel rage. No punches pulled.
“It’s everyone’s right in a free country to be Antisemitic, but enough with hiding behind Israel, or Zionism or Netanyahu,” Maher said. “[If you think] when it comes to human rights, Israel is the monster country of all time, you either don’t read or you don’t care about your own hypocrisy. Because there are so many worse places.”
“That’s how you know it’s antisemitism. It’s the inconsistency,” he added.
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Maher brought up The New York Times getting cozy with Hasan Piker, a rabid progressive who has compared Zionists to neo-Nazis.
Yes, Maher both-sided the matter, but there is fault on both sides.
It’s hard to even quantify where Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens currently fall on the Left/Right divide, but the anti-Israel fury isn’t confined to the new Left.
Maher brought some receipts there, too.
“The meathead manosphere and Code Pink people are on the same page,” he said. “They both went to high school in America and they don’t know anything.”
He didn’t leave out the role higher education has played in this toxic cultural turn.
“Professors now say things that would make Kanye wince,” Maher cracked before reading some stunning statements from the professorial class. And they’re still employed.
Just another day at college.
“Jew hatred isn’t just acceptable now. It’s cool. Celebrities love it and make it trendy,” he said seconds after showing images of Javier Bardem and Susan Sarandon in their best pro-Palestinian poses.
There weren’t many laughs from Maher’s studio audience. Some of this material just isn’t funny. Or, perhaps, the audience wasn’t comfortable with what their host shared.
Either way, it’s the moral clarity he shared during the segment that matters. And yes, Maher made it political.
Editor’s Note: It’s a brutal time to be an independent journalist, but it’s never been more necessary given the sorry state of the corporate press. If you’re enjoying Hollywood in Toto, I hope you’ll consider leaving a coin (or two) in our Tip Jar.
“There is a frothing anxiousness for the literal extermination of this one group. And Democrats, where are you? If any other minority group was being talked about this way, you’d break out the Kente cloth and have 10 benefit concerts,” he said. “But if you see that so many of your brainwashed by TikTok constituents have an unfavorable view of Israel you indulge them, when you should be correcting them.”
He then showed pictures of the Democrats’ possible 2028 presidential candidates who have all boasted that they don’t take money from AIPAC, the Israeli lobby.
“You take money from crypto and factory farmers and Big Tech, from Diddy and Weinstein and Epstein but AIPAC is too far?” he asked.
At a time when a late-night host’s fiery monologue gets repeated ad nauseam by Legacy Media outlets, Maher’s rant got little media traction. Fox News did its due diligence.
And, not surprisingly, Megyn Kelly came out to attack … Maher, not the problem he correctly cited. The new, improved Kelly sounds a bit like Carlson and Owens of late.
The real truth tellers in late-night TV aren’t celebrated or supported. They’re ignored. Meanwhile, Legacy Media is genuflecting over every last second of Colbert’s “The Late Show,” as if we’re losing something profound with its retirement.
Viewers can get the same information from Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart and, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Fallon.
That isn’t true for Maher.
The HBO host remains a flawed but fascinating original, and his recent “Real Time” rant may be his finest hour.
Not bad for an atheist.
Should conservatives embrace Maher for sharing this kind of a segment? Or, does the fact that he relentlessly votes for Democrats hurt his own case?
WHY IS MAHER 100% CORRECT? because you rabid anti-Israel people don’t only hate on Bibi and his maniac coalition, which they rightly deserve, instead you hate on all Israelis, from the peacenik tel avivian to the settler fanatic, demonizing all of us, which you don’t do in the slightest the case of Americans, Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Palestinians, Congolese, Syrians etc., all of which are faaaaar worse war criminals. That’s why you are either conformist idiot sheep or closet antisemite or both.
Good Luck Bill Maher, getting your Fellow Democrats to first, even admit they are Wrong. You know, that Thing you have to do “Before” Bill, the very First step you have to make to correct Blatant Stupidity. Democrats will rarely, if ever admit they are wrong, but when they have worked themselves up into that Phony, Heroine State, where they se themselves as Guardians against Fascism, Rather than what Democrats have Become, “The” Fascists!
Not a big fan of Bill… but he does make some good points with this monolog.!
Watch the videos and notice that at any laugh line that makes fun of the left’s antisemitism the audience is dead silent.
That silence speaks volumes and is the real story here that nobody is talking about
Not surprising that nobody laughs. The jews in his audience obviously don’t find jokes about anti-Semitism funny — and those who practice it don’t like having their bigotry pointed out publicly. How about I make some jokes about liberals’ Trump derangement Syndrome in a crowd of leftists Trump haters. Do you really think that anyone will laugh? Get a clue.
Love Bill Maher! The guy is pretty centrist at times and attacks both parties when they do so something stupid. The country needs more people like him.