The sentiment, “a teaching lesson” was heard throughout this week’s episode of Real Time With Bill Maher as the comedian faced guests Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and notably, Ice Cube after he dropped a tasteless joke using the n-word in a previous episode.
On Friday (Jun 9), Maher welcomed the guests and offered another apology for using the racial slur. “For black folks, that word, I don’t care who you are, has caused pain,” Maher said. “It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t said in malice, if it brought back pain to people, and that’s why I apologized freely and I reiterate it tonight. That’s sincere. I’m not that big of an a**hole.” During his interview with Nebraska senator Ben Sasse the week prior, the veteran comedian and political commentator referred to himself as a “house n****r.” Maher was met with high criticism with some calling for the cancellation of his show.
First up was professor Dyson, who is also a good friend of Maher’s. The two explored the levels to which Maher’s joke offended people of color. Professor Dyson also asked Maher to check his “unconscious white privilege.” Maher reminded his pal that he didn’t mean no malice for the joke, but made it point to push the topic as a “comedian” issue rather than a “race” issue.
“As much as I hate [President Donald] Trump, that’s wrong,” Maher said in regards to Kathy Griffin’s ill-fitting joke about Trump. “You make a mistake, you don’t have to go away.”
Up next was Ice Cube, who was less than gentle with Maher. “I knew you was going to f**k up sooner or later,” the rapper said. “I love your show, but you been bucking up that line a little bit. You got a lot of black jokes… Sometimes you sound like a redneck trucker.”
Cube then went straight to the topic and called out Maher’s hypocrisy and alleged “pass” he might beleives exists because of his ties to black community as well as his dating life. “I accept your apology, but I still think we need to get to the root of the psyche, because I think there are a lot of guys out there who cross the line because they a little too familiar… or is guys who had a black girlfriend or two that made them some Kool-Aid now and then think they can cross the line, and they can’t.”
In the past, Maher has dated women of color like Karrine Steffans, Coco Johnsen and singer-songwriter Anjulie Persaud. This week, Johnsen alluded to TMZ that the host may have dropped the word during their relationship in 2004.
As Maher tried to defend himself, Cube wasn’t done schooling him. “That word is like a knife,” he said. “You can use it as a weapon or you can use it as a tool. It’s been used as a weapon by white people, and we’re not gonna let it happen again. That’s our word now,” Cube continued. “And you can’t have it back.”
Political commentator Symone Sanders, who was a guest on the panel, also chimed to remind Maher of black women who were raped and slapped with the “house n*****r” role during slavery. “That was like a slap in the face to black America,” she said. “Particularly black women. You wouldn’t have been in the house, you’d have been a slave master,” she added in regards to his joke.
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See portions from the episode above.