“Star Wars” actor Billy Dee Williams joined comedian Bill Maher on a recent episode of his “Club Random” podcast, and both lamented the state of today’s youth in America — a generation Maher referred to collectively as “house plants.”
Williams, who played the role of Lando Calrissian in the original George Lucas trilogy, said that he just didn’t understand the younger generations most of the time: “I don’t know what this generation is about.”
Maher argued that kids were being “raised wrong,” calling them “fragile” and comparing them to “house plants.” Williams was slightly more generous, noting that kids seemed to lack a real “sense of history” and asking whether it was possible that they were simply “misinformed” or not properly educated.
“They do not know anything, but it’s not their fault because, you know, it’s not the responsibility of the child to instruct themselves. I never had to worry about that in my little town, whatever color it was,” Maher said. “We just went to school. You went to school … they taught you the basics; they taught you the s***. I didn’t leave that school until I knew basically everything that a normal, intelligent person should know. Not anything from Nobel Prize winner in literature or science, just a regular person would know these things and kids today know nothing. You don’t have to know anything and they will sign that diploma and kick you out the door.”
One of the main issues Maher cited was the ongoing war between Israel and the terror group Hamas, saying that young people appeared to be uneducated on the history of the region – but they were getting involved in protests and political activism despite their lack of understanding: it “doesn’t sap their confidence.”
“That is what is so bad about the kids, getting back to that, not knowing anything. They think, oh, let’s give communism another try,” Maher said, coming back around to the topic a bit later. “No, kids! We did try it! We did try it. Vladimir Lenin took over Moscow in 1917, and it was a long experiment and it was horrible, so we don’t need to try that again.”
“Well, I don’t know, we got Lucifer in the world right now,” Williams said.
“Trump?” Maher attempted to get Williams to clarify.
“I’m just saying Lucifer,” Williams repeated.
Maher tried again: “Oh, you mean literally?”
“I’m just saying Lucifer,” was all Williams would say.
You can watch the podcast here: