“Real Time” host Bill Maher insists that his political views have not changed, rather that a “woke” ideology has influenced politics.
Maher made an appearance on conservative commentator Ben Shapiro’s podcast in an episode that was released Sunday.
“When you say ‘woke,’ you know, and I make fun of it too, because it’s become an eye-roll in many ways,” Maher said. “I assume at a certain moment and it wasn’t that long ago before we didn’t have the term… it was like alert to injustice, and I went, ‘Ok, I’m down with that.'”
However, he argued, it “became sort of a byword for a lot of this goofy stuff.”
“That’s what I’m always railing against. That’s why they play me on Fox News now,” Maher added.
Watch the video below:
Bill Maher says "I haven't changed at all. My politics hasn't changed. They've changed," adding "letting three-year-olds decide what gender they are, this wasn't something five years ago" pic.twitter.com/p5ufRLmFsp
— Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 13, 2022
Shapiro interjected, “How do you feel about that?”
“I haven’t changed at all. My politics hasn’t changed. [Liberals have] changed,” Maher responded.
He continued, “People say to me sometimes, you know, ‘Have you changed?’ No. It’s that five years ago, no one was talking about defunding the police. I never heard that phrase five years ago. That’s not me changing. That’s things changing. I’m reacting to it.”
“Letting three-year-olds decide what gender they are. This wasn’t something five years ago. Free speech, you know, used to be a left-wing thing that we were proud [of] and owned. Now that seems to be under attack. So again, I think I’ve stayed the same,” Maher added.
He defended Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade, on his show Friday.
“It’s not like there’s no kernel of truth in that maybe kids that young shouldn’t be thinking about sex at all. I don’t think it’s specific,” the host said.
Maher has been a vocal critic of the defund the police movement, which he called “f—ing stupid” in 2020.
