The clueless Bill Maher's comments on Imus this morning

[flpoljunkie]

"Really bad, dumb joke?" No, there was nothing funny about it. It was not a joke--it was a rascist, misogynistic slur. Surely Maher knows the difference.

HBO's Bill Maher comments on Imus' recent statement regarding the Rutgers University Women's basketball team:

Bill Maher: "Well first of all I got an e-mail from my publicist who said; you know don't get involved with that, I'm like yeah please, when have I ever been about avoiding the issues. I'm going to say what I feel and what I feel is yeah you said a really bad, dumb joke, it was lame, and it was insulting. No one would want to take credit for that joke. It was wrong, but you know after you say you're sorry a few times I think then it's on other people, if they can't accept an apology. You know, I just think there is so much in this country about making people go away for a mistake. It's a mistake, you apologized, and you know you don't lose your livelihood--I don't understand that people have to lose their livelihood because they made one rotten joke. It's like nobody in this country can have one moment of discomfort, if you were made to feel one moment of discomfort, the person who caused it has to go away and that's just ridiculous. Yeah it was a bad joke, it was real creepy but after that people move on. You know? Don't listen to you any more. You will lose some black listeners and that should be your punishment."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3226997/

[LisaM]

1. It's my opinion that Bill Maher is somewhat misogynistic

And I think Imus' slur was both racist AND sexist. I wouldn't expect Bill Maher to get very bent out of shape about a sexist comment because, well, he's kind of a sexist. I went to one of his shows once (it was part of a series) and the women there didn't seem very comfortable. In fact, the only people who seemed to truly enjoy his humor were two boys of in front of me who looked about fourteen.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. He's an asshole

I occasionally watch his show because he gets some good guests. But I tune out as soon as he starts one of his monologues. He's a smug, insufferable dork.

[truebrit71]

28. Somewhat? He is a well known sexist..

..and although i agree with alot of what he says, he is sometimes so waaaaaaaaaaay off base as to be almost unpalateable...If you recall he also dismissed Mann Coulter's gay slur of John Edwards as a bad joke too...

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. It wasn't an isolated incident either

Imus has built a reputation as a shock jock by saying shocking things. He says offensive things all the damn time. Bill Maher is sexist pig anyway. Fuck him.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

3. Imus comment was both racist and sexist

Maher is dead wrong on this.

[sutz12]

5. Hmmmm....he said similar things about Kerry.

:)

[LisaM]

7. Kerry is a professional politician who ran for President

and should expect comments like that. Young ladies who are simply out there playing basketball, and doing a great job representing their very reputable school, should not be on the hook to have to defend themselves politically. These are COLLEGE STUDENTS, who to my knowledge have never been out there making political statements about anyone else.

[sutz12]

9. I wasn't defending Imus....I was defending Maher.

:)

[LisaM]

10. I couldn't tell who you meant, but figured it didn't matter

But what are the comments you refer to (about Kerry?)

[beachmom]

31. He defended Kerry when the "botched joke" happened.

Obviously, Kerry misstated the "joke" and it really was one big nothing, so it was much easier to defend. But with the Imus thing, Bill Maher is being Bill Maher, whc always defends the speech which is under fire.

[LisaM]

37. I see. Well, just because Maher was right in one instance

doesn't mean he's right on everything. And, I think he is a sexist. I think that he, like many other men, doesn't really understand the issue here. You don't call scholarship students who have worked hard to get where they are ho's. You just DON'T. It's not free speech. It's a respect issue.

[Rock_Garden]

6. Thank you!

I didn't know that others think Bill Maher is a sexist pig (besides me), too. One of these days he's going to end up like Dennis Miller.

[butterfly77]

8. I believe that he and Rosie ...

are saying that he shouldn't be fired because O'lielly wants rosie to go and ABC let Maher go.

[flpoljunkie]

12. Rosie and Maher's criticisms were neither rascist or sexist--unlike Imus and his juvenile cohorts.

[mike_c]

11. why the F*CK are people still paying attention to this stuff...?

That is where any influence Imus has comes from-- his audience. Turn that shit off, for god's sake.

As for Bill Maher: "...yeah please, when have I ever been about avoiding the issues?" This is an ISSUE? Christ on a trailer hitch, some stupid talking gasbag steps in his own excrement and it's an ISSUE?

[flpoljunkie]

13. Why? Because Imus has a big megaphone on MSNBC, and he's Newsweek's "American Patriot."

What he said is just plain wrong, and he must accept responsbility for his mouth-and clean up his rascist, sexist show.

[mike_c]

14. or folks can just stop giving him the audience he needs in order...

...for anything he says to mean diddley.

[Orrex]

21. That's a tall order, isn't it?

I mean, if Imus' millions of listeners haven't been turned off by his bigoted idiocy to date, why should they turn him off now? The few people I know who listen to him have an attitude of "oh, I just ignore that part," and so he continues on-air ad nauseum. It is unlikely that a sufficient fraction of his viewers will rise up to demand his removal.

The more efficient solution would be for his sponsers to start yanking their money. Then MSNBC can decide whether this poisonous asshole is worth losing all that revenue or if they should just dump him.

[mainer]

22. I'm sick of it too. Why all three channels on this stupid story?

So some radio/TV personality said a racist thing. There are kids dying in Iraq, and Alberto Gonzales is still holding out on Congress. The ladies at Rutgers got their feelings hurt. This has to take up 72 hours of the news cycle?!!

[wanpete]

15. I feel that Maher is beginning to take himself too seriously...

his opinions are just that, they are not fact. He cannot speak to the hurt that Imus has caused and the big picture that his comments bring to light, racism and sexism in America are still alive and very well.

I did not think much of his comments about Pat Tillman's death and how his family should have been lied to about his death. I wish there was a more diverse group of "go to" people for comments about pertinent news. Bill Maher is getting kind of predictable.

[flpoljunkie]

16. Unbelievably, Maher lamented that Imus was now a "broken mustang" on Scarborough last night

"Broken mustang?" Puhleeeze!

[mtnsnake]

17. Bill, Imus didn't just make a bad joke. He singled out a group of young ladies

who didn't deserve to be singled out for any of the reasons Imus singled them out. They made it to the final game of the NCAA championships, and the only thing they should've been singled out for was for their achievements, not for their gender or the color of their skin.

When you single someone out like what that sleazebag Imus did on coast to coast TV, it's not a really bad joke, it's a very serious issue.

Wake up, Bill.

[AtomicKitten]

18. worse, a pattern of racist, homophobic, misogynist remarks

video: http://achorn.blogspot.com/2007/04/don-imus-jokes-about-beating-up-faots.html

In one single show over 4 minutes, Imus and his producer hit on the following topics:

- Beating up faggots.
- Knocking over Jewish tombstones.
- Setting homeless bums on fire.
- Anderson Cooper taking it in the poop chute.
- Obama as a colored man.
- Homos.
- Wishing that some "sissy" on American Idol be the victim of a vicious hate crime.
- Shaving Rosie O'Donnell's bush, you'd need a weed wacker.

[mtnsnake]

20. That's why his "apology" should not be taken seriously

Imus has a history.

[Orrex]

19. Maher is only slightly less of an asshole than Imus

a mistake, you apologized, and you know you don't lose your livelihood--I don't understand that people have to lose their livelihood because they made one rotten joke.

What country does Maher live in? If I made "one rotten joke" in my job, I'd be out the door before the end of my shift.

But Maher, who has made a career out of dumb, rotten jokes, thinks that the shallow media intelligencia should get a special dispensation because... why, again?

[AuntPatsy]

23. It was not a joke, and this from someone who adores Coulter? No surprise.

[ToeBot]

24. Why is Bill Maher the 'go to' guy? Is he the resident celebrity apologist?

I still don't get why his opinion is important or even considered relevant.

[mainer]

25. Bill can be counted on to be absolutely forthright. That's why.

Whether it's politically correct or not. That's why he gets into so much trouble.

But that's also why I love hearing what he has to say.

[ToeBot]

38. That actually does answer my question: Maher's opinion is presumed to hold sway...

with those that may be outraged by Imus' racism. It's damage control. Thanks.

[Bridget Burke]

26. Perhaps he's the White Al Sharpton....

He's not in Jesse Jackson's league.

[churchofreality]

27. I like Maher but I think he is wrong here.

There is nothing funny about taking the proudest moment of some young womens lives and spoiling it by referring to them with racist slurs. Michael Smirconish (Douchebag) was on Today this morning defending Imus too. He talked about how Jesse Jackson called NY "hymietown". Does that excuse Imus? The fact is, 40 years ago we still has segregation, slavery is not that far removed but for a few generations. There are parts of the country where blacks are loathed. As a white person, I will never know what it feels like to be black.

[marlakay]

34. I agree

I like Bill but saw the whole thing on the news yesterday. I think Imus crossed a line. Bill thinks you should be able to cross any lines but he's on HBO not quite the same thing on radio. I personally think there are some things that shouldn't be said on public access. Are we so into freedoms we want people saying "fuck" on tv our kids watch or radios? Some people think they should, just change the station. Fine, leave that to HBO and the like.

I am all into freedom but there is so much racial tension this just adds to it. I am a white woman who doesn't see color. People are people, good and bad of any color. I wouldn't want my daughter of any color called a ho on the radio and would be pissed. But I am sick and tired of how poorly blacks are treated in this country. Can't we grow up??

[MrSlayer]

29. Maher's father is a good friend of Imus'.

And Imus gave Bill some early shots. It's the show business code. Had it been someone else Maher would be burying them. But Bill did make a few good points. One being it's tough to do 20 hours of off the cuff monologue without ever slipping up and that there really are some much more serious issues to deal with in this country than whether Imus is a racist. We know he's a racist, anyone who listens to Stern has known this for a long time. Beside that, this is not even close to his first offensive comment. He's long gotten away with making hateful comments and it really is time for him to go. I really like Bill Maher but he's backing Imus on heart and not head here.

[beachmom]

32. Somebody upthread said he defended Ann Coulter for the JRE comment.

Bill Maher is consistent on this. We may not like it, but this is who he is.

[MrSlayer]

35. He didn't defend her as much as interpret her use of the slur "faggot".

Basically her saying that meant "Edwards is a pussy and Democrats in general are pussies." he also mentioned the fact that he never shared her views and had opined that she's gone off the deep end.

[beachmom]

30. Hmmm . . . what was the name of Bill Maher's first show?

Oh yeah. "Politically Incorrect". His comment doesn't surprise me, and is consistent with his view on language and freedom of speech. You may not like it, but this is who Bill Maher is.

[Adelante]

33. I can't stand Imus and never could

But maybe we should respect that Maher is a guy who can and does do things like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbBYaN3rJiQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwes4pres%2Ecom%2F

At least keep it in mind when he does something we disagree with.

[donsu]

36. Maher has a perverse side

and he says Imus shouldn't be fired for a bad joke. he's only trying to cover his own behind for the stupid things he sometime's says.

[sutz12]

39. Maher is not a Democrat...he's a Libertarian.

He will always support a very hard-line version of "free speech."

After all, it's what he does, and he just might need the same protection some day for a similar reason. :)