Comedian Bill Maher railed against critical race theory and woke Democrats in a far-reaching interview with Chris Cuomo Wednesday night — condemning the controversial education movement as “just virtue-signaling” and accusing liberals of being “afraid to acknowledge progress.”
“It’s just something going on in the schools that never went on before,” Maher said on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”
The “Real Time” host said he isn’t against “finally teaching an honest history of racism” in American schools, but CRT — which suggests that America is inherently racist — has gone too far.
“I think, I remember what my education was with American history. We learned about the Civil War. I mean, they mentioned racism. We understood slavery and Lincoln … But they didn’t really go into it any more than ‘Gone with the Wind’ goes into it. It was there but you didn’t feel it, this really. Now we’re doing that, and I think that’s a good thing. People should understand that,” Maher said.
“That’s different than teaching that racism is the essence of America. That’s what people get upset about, or involving children, who are probably not old enough, or sophisticated enough, to understand this very complicated issue, with a very complicated history.”
He said some children in parts of the country are being taught — and sometimes separated into groups — related to oppressor and oppressed, adding: “Does a kid even know what those words mean? Would they gravitate toward that if you hadn’t told them?”
Maher argued the concept of teaching that racism is everywhere because that’s how it can be remedied — otherwise people are just hiding from the truth — “is just silly, it’s just virtue-signaling.”
Maher acknowledged a lot of work still needed to be done, but argued race relations in America “was getting better.”
He also spoke about “progressophobia,” which he said essentially means liberals have become “afraid to acknowledge progress.”
“It’s two thoughts in your head at the same time. You can acknowledge that we have made great progress, on all the social issues, and yet, there is still more work to be done. We’re not saying ‘Mission accomplished.’ We’re just saying, ‘Let’s live in the year we’re living in,'” he said.
“When I was kid, I grew up in New Jersey, which is not a Southern state, and it was a completely white town. Now, a vast majority of Americans want to live in a racially diverse neighborhood. That is a sea change, just in my lifetime,” he argued.
“Again, not mission accomplished, but can we just acknowledge how far we’ve come, and where we are right now?”
Maher, a self-described “old-school liberal”, also criticized the far-left’s use of the term “woke”.
“There’s a reason why the term ‘woke’ has come to signify going too far and doing things that don’t make sense,” he said. “I keep saying this to the Democratic Party: ‘The reason why you’re so toxic is because you have become the party of no common sense’.”
Maher went on to address cancel culture after being asked if he was concerned his opinions would lead to him being axed.
“No. They come after me every week, for something. I mean, both sides, which I think is great,” Maher said. “And that’s fairly new, because… my politics have not changed. I’m an old-school liberal… they changed. Not me.”
Maher also said he supported fellow comedian Dave Chappelle after he faced backlash for comments he made about transgender people in his recent Netflix special, “The Closer.”
“I’m Team Dave,” Maher said, adding he doesn’t think Chappelle is transphobic.
“I don’t think he, or myself, or any other, again, right-thinking person thinks there aren’t such things in the world as people who are trans, who are born in a body that doesn’t align with what their brain is telling them. That’s OK.
“This is new. So, don’t put it into this category of ‘this is settled science [and] anything that deviates from the one true opinion on this means you’re some horrible bigot and transphobic.’
“That’s not what’s going on here,” Maher said.
Asked if Chappelle went too far with some of his trans comments because it could empower people who may want to harm transgender people, Maher said: “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s in Dave’s head. I mean, I’ll admit he’s a little obsessed with this one issue.”
