On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that “Gen Z hearts are hardened by the propaganda you see on TikTok” into a relative indifference towards the Jewish victims of October 7 and into supporting Iran and Hamas, who are the real oppressors.
During his closing monologue that was addressed to young Americans and singer Chappell Roan, Maher said, “I didn’t learn about the Middle East from TikTok, which is a Chinese company whose totalitarian government would just love to have America’s youth hating America. That’s some of that algorithm stuff you say you want to look into.”
He added, “I know you’re moved by what you see on there, we all are, the dead Palestinian bodies. But it’s odd that your generation didn’t seem nearly as moved by the Jewish bodies on October 7. … My guess is that Gen Z hearts are hardened by the propaganda you see on TikTok, which likes to call the Jews colonizers. But colonizers are intruders who have no history in an area … Calling Jews colonizers in Israel is like calling Native Americans colonizers here, it’s ridiculous.”
Maher further stated, “Chappell, if you think it was repressive growing up queer in the Midwest, try the Mideast. You’re a female drag queen, and you sing, ‘F*cked you in the bathroom when we went to dinner, your parents at the table.’ Yeah, that wouldn’t fly in Gaza. Although, you would, straight off a roof. … Chappell, you’re not wrong that oppression is bad or that Palestinian and many other Muslim populations are oppressed and deserve to be freed, you just have it completely ass-backwards as to who is doing the oppressing. Hamas is a terrorist mafia that took over Gaza. The Revolutionary Guard is a terrorist mafia that took over Iran. ISIS is a terrorist mafia that took over Iraq. The Taliban is a terrorist mafia that took over Afghanistan. These are the oppressors, and when you make it all about Israel, you take the pressure off of them, you enable them.”
He concluded, “The Iranian regime has killed 600 protesters after a 22-year-old woman died in police custody following her arrest for the crime of wearing her head covering incorrectly. Just to be clear, that’s your team. Iran is who sponsors Hamas and Hezbollah. Are you sure this is who you want to throw down with? … You’re a singer, and you’re advocating for a place and a culture you would never want to live under. Gender may not be binary, but right and wrong kind of is.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett