Bill Maher still has a something to say in regards to his N-word joke controversy that took place a while ago on his show Real Time. If you can’t recall; Maher shocked viewers when he used the term ‘house n*gga’ during a joke about working the Nebraska fields. As soon as the moment hit TV, people took to social media to call out the long time host. Well in a new talk for the New York Times with Philip Galanes & Fran Lebowitz; Maher shared that he never thought he would get fired over the joke because it was a comedian’s mistake. Check out the exchange below.
PG: Maybe the only middle ground now is the outrage over episodes like your recent N-word incident. Total fury! Did you think you were toast?
BM: No.
PG: Really? Were you not looking at Twitter?
BM: I think most people understood that it was a comedian’s mistake, not a racist mistake.
PG: Your first guest on the follow-up apology show, Michael Eric Dyson, was pretty softball with you. But Ice Cube was righteously indignant. He wanted to hold you to account.
BM Listen, I hope we had a teachable moment about race: trying to make something good from something bad. But maybe also about how to handle something like this: apologize sincerely if you’re wrong — and I was — and own it.
