In reaction to fallout from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, television host Bill Maher contended that “this war on jokes must end.”
“Comedians have been under attack for some time,” Maher argued during an episode of “Real Time” on Friday night. He said that Chris Rock’s “G.I. Jane 2” joke “wasn’t an alopecia joke any more than the chicken crossing the road is about bird flu.”
Maher noted that Smith’s initial reaction to the joke was laughter before Jada Pinkett Smith appeared visibly upset. “He hasn’t found out yet that his original general reaction was wrong and that he should conform to a different view,” Maher said.
Maher extended his rant to college students and their tendency to favor censorship. “The people who can’t take a joke now aren’t old ladies in the Bible Belt. They’re Gen Z at elite colleges. … Kids used to go to college and lose their virginity. Now they go to lose their sense of humor.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It’s a good thing George Carlin is dead because today, the seven words you can’t say on TV are “Jada, can’t wait for “G.I. Jane 2.” <a href="https://t.co/1oHU9A3eIF">pic.twitter.com/1oHU9A3eIF</a>
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) <a href="https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1512637849148923905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
“Soon there will be nothing to joke about but airline food and Starbucks getting your name wrong,” Maher added.
Maher — a progressive and self-identified atheist — frequently criticizes the authoritarian wing of the Left. He responded to Whoopi Goldberg’s recent anti-Semitic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-on-whoopi-goldberg-controversy-we-have-got-to-get-past-this-endless-unforgiving-zero-tolerance-mindset">remark</a> about the Holocaust by arguing that people need to get past trying to cancel others who say the wrong thing.
“We have got to get past this endless, unforgiving, zero tolerance mindset bent on punishing and disappearing anyone caught saying the wrong thing. The right response to speech you don’t like is more speech, not the lazy, cowardly response of canceling people,” he concluded. “This is a big country with lots of people who don’t think like you. We all only need to agree on free speech itself. That’s my religious belief. That’s the timeless principle I live by. I don’t like what Whoopi said about race, she didn’t like what I said about COVID, so what? The real essence of karma, by the way, is non attachment, letting s*** go, it’s very zen. Oh, and by the way, no one knows what that means either.”
During a recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/sunday-special">conversation</a> with Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro, Maher <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-predicts-trump-winning-in-2024-if-democrats-dont-shift-on-key-issue">said</a> he could see former President Donald Trump winning in 2024 if Democrats continue to botch kitchen-table issues — especially education.
“I could see that Trump could actually win that election, easily,” Maher said. “Especially if the Democrats keep doing the stuff they are doing to piss people off, like in schools, with all that kind of stuff.”
“My theme has been that, yes, both parties have a lot to answer for. Again, I told you where my politics are in general, okay. I’m not coming over to this side. I do think that Republicans are more dangerous,” he continued. “But what pisses people off with Democrats is so much closer to home, it’s so much up close and personal.”
Maher added that Democrats’ impeachment efforts against Trump with regard to a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not compelling to most voters.
“I mean the Ukraine issue that he was impeached over,” Maher said. “Yes, I think it was an impeachable offense, absolutely. But to most people, it’s like Ukraine? … It’s very far away, doesn’t really influence my life a lot?”
“But when you have my kid coming home from school and saying, ‘Mommy, am I a racist?’ ‘You’re five. You just learned the word. What are you — ?’ That’s what I worry about with the Democrats,” the host asserted. “And in that scenario, Trump could win.”

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‘This War On Jokes Must End’: Bill Maher Reacts To ‘The Slap’ With Pro-Comedy Tirade