Roseanne Barr's fall from television grace thanks to her racially charged tweet about Valerie Jarrett on Monday has many audiences wondering why Bill Maher still has a primetime platform. The HBO host, after all, has a history of his own controversial and racial remarks. The difference between the two comedians, conservative critics charge, is that Maher is a liberal.
Wait, Bill Maher makes comparisons to Trump being a gorilla all the time?
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 29, 2018
They get classified as "jokes" by the media and he is of course allowed to keep his show and not have his life ruined
The difference?
Bill Maher is a liberal, Roseanne is a free-thinking Trump supporter
Roseanne compared Jarrett, a former President Obama aide, to an ape this week and got soundly punished for it. ABC canceled her popular TV reboot and her old costars distanced themselves from her "abhorrent" remarks.
Maher, meanwhile, has compared President Trump to an orangutan, which found him on the end of a lawsuit, and used the phrase "house n****" on his HBO program last year. The network apologized and edited the phrase out of his show, but he kept his job. Some say that did not suffice. Yet, as other conservatives noted, Maher is one of few liberal celebrities who has defended the free speech of all ideologies.
I’m not gonna take part in a purge of Bill Maher. I don’t agree with many of his views, and don’t even have HBO. But he’s one of the few people on the Left willing to share a country with dissenting views. So it’s myopically stupid to turn on him. We need more of him, actually.
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) May 30, 2018
Maher routinely invites conservatives on his show and has even lectured the media on its record of faux outrage. Of course, none of this justifies his own controversial comments.
Others are wondering why "View" co-host Joy Behar still has a job.
Remember when Joy Behar referred to homeschooled children as “demented” while on air?
— Kyle Morris (@RealKyleMorris) May 29, 2018
While @ABCNetwork is in the process of terminating contracts, perhaps they can find Joy Behar’s. pic.twitter.com/UAgGBO43lk
What do you think? Do the crimes fit the punishment (or non-punishment) for these comedians?