Bill Maher's stance that Jesus Christ and the founding fathers could be "canceled" for not speaking out against slavery is being mocked online.
The clip came from a January episode of Maher's Club Random Podcast in which he discussed slavery with his guest, Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. The controversial comedian and host of Real Time with Bill Maher is no stranger to backlash and has faced criticism for his stance on topics like the British monarchy and mask-wearing in the last six months alone.
"For the people who are wanting to cancel Thomas Jefferson and George Washington because they had slaves, in an era when everyone had slaves who could afford it, including people of color in other parts of the world," Maher said. "It was a human thing. Yeah, it's not just a white thing. Okay, so, if you're going to cancel Jefferson and Washington, you have to cancel Jesus. He never spoke against it."
Podcast host Murder Bryan shared the clip on Twitter, which received upwards of 375,000 views. "This dude's brain is made out of baby s*** and barf," he tweeted.
Viewers on Twitter took a similar stance in the comments.
"I wish I had the confidence of an idiot who is wrong," The Dollop podcast host Dave Anthony tweeted.
Kevin Sabellico, the campaign manager for California state Senator Catherine Blakespear, actually thought Maher was on to something, though: "I mean he is wrong about some of his supporting facts here, but his conclusion is sound," he wrote.
Suggesting that Maher did get his wish, another Twitter user pointed out that "Jesus was actually the most famously canceled man of all time."
While it wasn't included in the clip that went viral, Maher continued with his point about canceling Jesus in his conversation with Cranston.
"You have to cancel Jesus. Because he never spoke against it. It's not in the Old Testament. There's a million rules about slavery. None of them are 'don't do it,'" he emphasized, partly joking as Cranston starts laughing.
"And the reason is because it literally didn't cross their mind. No one ever says in either testament, 'what about we just don't do it at all?' 'What? Don't do it at all? Who's going to schlep the big stone to make the cathedral?' It just did not enter their minds," Maher said.
Maher suggested that condemning slavery could have easily been one of the 10 Commandments rather than, say, not worshipping "false idols."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
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