Comedians Bill Maher and Tim Allen criticized climate change activism during a Monday episode of “Club Random.”
Maher referenced a 2023 “Real Time with Bill Maher” segment where he condemned celebrities and politicians who flew privately while advocating for carbon footprint reduction. Allen said on the podcast that “climate change” is such a “broad” term that it leads to inaction on environmental issues.
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“I would like to think I’m still an environmentalist. I certainly think there is an environmental crisis, but I was saying we have tried for 50 years to try the method of shaming people into doing what’s right,” Maher said. “Plainly, that doesn’t work on Americans.”
“You know who said it best was the Terminator, [Arnold] Schwarzenegger … ‘Nobody gives a shit about climate change …’ Pause. ‘Pollution, we understand.’ The word climate change is so broad … You can handle pollution,” Allen replied. “And I so agree with them. Climate change is real. I get it. What can I do about it? Use less plastic. I put solar on my house. Anything I can do to lower my carbon footprint.”
However, Maher told Allen his actions to reduce his carbon footprint were meaningless compared to all of his travel.
“Well, all that bullshit that you did, Tim, didn’t add up to one millionth of the trips you’ve taken,” he said.
Allen told Maher he couldn’t “private plane shame” him. Maher explained that was the purpose of his “Real Time” segment.
“I was saying, like, we have tried this. I’m an environmentalist. I believe it’s a problem, but using a cloth bag is not going to fix it,” he said. “And the plastic, by the way, that everyone separates, like 95% of it winds up where it was going to anyway, which is the ocean. So, just don’t fuck with me.”
“And then I showed a picture of every celebrity who claims to be a giant environmentalist getting on a private plane,” he added. “So, like, as long as there’s 6,000 flights a day, me doing one more, I’m sorry. I’m not going to be on [Greta Thunberg’s] sailboat, okay? Because I hear getting the shit off that thing is a mess.”
Allen elaborated on why he believed Schwarzenegger’s remark was accurate.
“[H]e’s so right. Give me a problem I can deal with. With the wording ‘climate change,’ it makes everybody feel helpless,” he said. “And it’s nothing like feeling helpless to get people to do nothing.”
“[I]f you’re not going to do something that practically works, then we’re just fucking jerking each other off, putting the plastic in a separate bag,” Maher said. “Fuck you if you made me do that all these years and it just went to the same place. You’re just jerking me off.”
Moreover, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said on “CNN News Central” on Oct. 29 that Democrats’ messaging on climate change did not strongly resonate with Americans. Several corporate media outlets and certain Democrats also pivoted away from climate policy and shifted their messaging to rising electricity prices in 2025.
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