Bill Maher defends his liberal credentials after booking Milo Yiannopoulos on his show
Responding to The Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill—who canceled his scheduled appearance on his week’s episode of Real Time With Bill Maher after the show booked Breitbart jagoff and Popstar: Never Stop Stopping cosplayer Milo Yiannopoulos as a guest—comedian Bill Maher has released a statement basically defending his liberal credentials. In the statement, obtained via Deadline, Maher responds specifically to Scahill’s assertion that Maher’s views on Islam can “veer into vitriol.” (He’s not the only one to make that observation, by the way—not by a long shot.) According to Maher, this is the same sort of liberal in-fighting that led to Trump winning the 2016 election, and bringing Yiannopoulos on the show is simply giving him the rope with which to hang himself, so to speak. Here’s Maher’s full statement:
My comments on Islam have never veered into vitriol. Liberals will continue to lose elections as long as they follow the example of people like Mr. Scahill who’s[sic] views veer into fantasy and away from bedrock liberal principles like equality of women, respect for minorities, separation of religion and state, and free speech. If Mr. Yiannopoulos is indeed the monster Scahill claims–and he might be–nothing could serve the liberal cause better than having him exposed on Friday night.
Real Time With Bill Maher airs live tomorrow night on HBO, starting at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.