Conservatives are applauding Bill Maher today, after he was falsely accused of racism by Hollywood’s Ben Affleck during a debate on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Maher’s sin, along with guest Sam Harris, was to point out–correctly–that radical Islam acts upon execrable beliefs about non-believers that are shared widely within the Muslim world. Yet Maher himself has been a long purveyor of false accusations of racism.
In 2012, shortly after Andrew Breitbart’s untimely death, Maher claimed that Breitbart had been a “racist”–with no proof whatsoever, and despite having Breitbart numerous times as a guest on his show. Later that same year, Maher claimed that a report by Breitbart News revealing a 1991 literary pamphlet in which Obama’s literary agent had described him as “born in Kenya”–possibly the origin of “Birtherism”–was likewise “racist.”
Fans are used to Maher’s twists and contradictions. Most are prepared to take the good with the bad, the brave with the stupid.
In this case, while Maher is innocent of the “racism” charge, he is hardly entitled to sympathy.
Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak edits Breitbart California and is the author of the forthcoming ebook, Wacko Birds: The Fall (and Rise) of the Tea Party, available for Amazon Kindle.
Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelpollak
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