Comedian and HBO late-night host Bill Maher lamented how Hollywood has become the “epicenter of woke stupid” while pushing an ongoing crusade against cultural appropriation.
Maher shared his thoughts about so-called “cultural appropriation” during a discussion on Club Random podcast with actor Joel Edgerton.
“The epicenter of woke stupid is this town,” Maher said. “It really is. And things like, appropriation, we used to love that, you know? It was called culturally sharing. We thought it was a great idea. Now, obviously, if you steal something, I mean, you know, Elvis – did he steal from Black culture? He sang the way he sang. He grew up in the South. I mean, the cultures mixed, you know. I don’t – I think it’s just pointless to hate him for it.”
Maher referenced the uproar over Bradley Cooper wearing a prosthetic nose playing Leonard Bernstein in his movie Maestro.
“They were mad at, who did the movie about Leonard Bernstein with the ‘Jew nose’ they called it – Bradley Cooper. I mean, ‘Jew nose.’ Do they even know how stupid they sound? I mean, to use that word. They made up this horrible word and then were like, ‘Oh, but we’re the good people. We’re saying, whoa, no, Jew nose.’ It’s just so silly,” Maher said.
Maher has routinely discussed the excesses of political correctness from Hollywood and the media on both his Club Random podcast and his HBO show Real Time. In November of last year, he even admitted to quitting stand-up comedy for fear of being shot by the left or the right.
“I don’t want to be out there in this country, in this political atmosphere. I could get shot by the left or the right,” Maher said. “It’s a good time to not be out there.”