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03rd Jun 2017

Bill Maher called himself the n-word on live television, and people are not happy

There is no excuse for this.

Rory Cashin

In the long list of people we really thought would have known better, we would’ve thought Bill Maher would be right up there…

In the same week that other famous TV hosts have been publicly fired for their poorly chosen jokes, Bill Maher hasn’t so much pushed that particular envelope as pushed it so far it enough to fall off the edge of his desk and into a nearby shredder.

As a result, people are understandably, and justifiably, very upset about it.

The day after Trump decided to pull out of the Paris Agreement climate-change deal, everyone expected Maher to lay into Republican senator Ben Sasse on the subject.

Instead, they spoke about almost anything except that, which led to Maher’s soon-to-be-infamous statement:

Ben Sasse: “I’m not trying to beat up Millennials. But there is something weird in human history if you can’t tell 10 and 15 and 20 and 25 year olds apart — because that’s new.”

Bill Maher: “Halloween used to be a kid thing.”

BS: “It’s not anymore?”

BM: “Not out here. Now adults dress up for Halloween. They don’t do that in Nebraska?”

BS: “It’s frowned upon. We don’t do that quite as much.”

BM: “Maybe I oughta visit Nebraska more.”

BS: “You are welcome. We would welcome you to work in the fields with us.”

BM: “Work in the fields? Senator, I am a house n*****.”

Clip via Brandon Macer

The reaction online was immediate: