Sharpton slams Bill Maher over N-word: ‘He doesn’t get a pass’
On Sunday, Rev. Al Sharpton condemned Bill Maher's use of the N-word on “Real Time with Bill Maher Show.”
On Sunday, Rev. Al Sharpton condemned Bill Maher’s use of the N-word on “Real Time with Bill Maher Show.”
“Oh no! There are no exceptions that make this acceptable,” Sharpton said on MSNBC’s Politics Nation when asked about Maher’s use of the word.
“He doesn’t get a pass because we’re friends,” Sharpton added. “What Bill Maher did was normalize a word that is anything but normal.”
The outrage stems from a conversation that Maher had during an interview with Sen. Ben Sasse.
–Bill Maher calls himself ‘a house n****r during ‘Real Time’ interview–
“I’ve got to get to Nebraska more,” Maher said on Friday.
“You are welcome,” Sasse replied. “We’d love to have you work in the fields with us.”
“Work in the fields?! Senator, I’m a house, n—-r,” Maher said, to laughter and groans from the audience. “It’s a joke,” he quickly added.
But not everyone thought of it as a joke, obviously, and after the clip inspired serious backlash, Maher issued a Twitter apology: “The word was offensive and I regret saying it and am very sorry.”
Sasse also apologized, saying that he regretted not calling Maher out on his word usage during the interview. “Me just cringing last night wasn’t good enough,” he tweeted this weekend.
