Bill Maher Rails Against Political Correctness: 'You Can't Purge Everybody'

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher ended his show with a monologue about political correctness.  He pointed to a number of incidents including the ill-advised comments Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, the remarks from “Duck Dynasty” patriach Phil Robertson and the widespread reaction to Michael Sam’s celebratory draft kiss with his partner, saying “under the asshole clause in the Constitution” they have the right to react that way.

Partial transcript as follows:

I bring this up in 2014 because, unfortunately, political correctness is making a comeback, and now with the Internet, it is easier than ever. In the 90s, you had to at least get off your ass to be in a fake mood of hurt feelings. You needed signs, you needed petitions, you had to feed Al Sharpton. Back then, getting worked up over nothing was a lot of work. And now it seems like all the Internet exists to do is point to the latest person who said the wrong thing so the rest of us can feel morally superior. And that’s not what the Internet is for; that’s what college is for. 

Social media is all about gotcha of a homophobic business man, or a sexist cartoonist, or a college president who fat-shames his dog by naming it Waddles. 

Last week, when the first gay football player got chosen in the NFL Draft, a player named Don Jones tweeted, “OMG. Horrible.” As is his right, under the asshole clause in the constitution. But the Dolphins fined him and threw him off the team until he underwent sensitivity training, which is when then calmly sit you down and then pin your eyes open like in “Clockwork Orange” and make you watch the Bravo channel for 24 hours straight. I mean 24 hours gay. 

I mean, when you hear the “Duck Dynasty” guy going off on homosexuality, like he did again this week, why even listen? What do you think he was going to say, the Tonys are nothing without Neil Patrick Harris? Folks, we had a televised celebrated interracial gay kiss during the NFL Draft. The culture war is over, and we won.

…

You can’t purge everybody who doesn’t evolve exactly on the timetable you did. It reminds me of the immigrant whose been in America for all of a year and looks at someone who came over last week, like, “boat people, am I right?”

Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeff_poor