Since its launch in 2022, Bill Maher’s Club Random has been a safe space for those worried they might be held accountable for things they say in public. Or is it? One of the Real Time host’s most recent guests was no less than Kanye West, who over the last couple years has rebranded as, well, an anti-Semite. Late last year he apologized to the Jewish community — in Hebrew — for his comments. But apparently he’s back at it again, as his Club Random hang was apparently too bigoted even for Maher.
Per Variety, in a recent chat with TMZ’s Henry Levin, Maher revealed he had high hopes for sitting down with a guy who once brought an even bigger anti-Semite to dine with Donald Trump, briefly torpedoing the former president’s rep.
“I thought it was going to be a learning moment,” Maher told Levin. Alas, though Maher said they had an “amazing, fun time,” what he said was not fit for public consumption. The decision came down to not wanting to provide a lectern to someone who could actually make the world a worse place by spreading bigotry and inflaming an already febrile situation.
“The problem, I think, is that he appeals mostly — of course he’s a rock star — to young people,” Maher explained. “They don’t know much and they surely don’t know much about the Middle East or Jews. So the combination of Kanye out there — I feel like he was helpful for spreading the fertilizer, and I do mean fertilizer, for this idea that Israel and the Jews are the worst people in the world.”
Levin pointed out that had Maher made West’s anti-Semitic public, it could give “other people permission to say it, too.”
“Yes, exactly,” Maher replied. “That’s why I wouldn’t air that episode, because I’m not going to contribute to this.”
Maher concluded that West is a “very charming antisemite,” then added, strangely, “And by the way, he’s not the only one in America who feels that way. It’s not like the Jews are universally loved except for Kanye West.”
West must have spouted a lot of anti-Semitism for the free speech absolutist Bill Maher to draw a line. The public may never know how far a guy who’s even been banned by fellow anything-goes public figure Elon Musk went while sitting in Maher’s mock-basement. But perhaps for Maher it was a ”learning moment,” making him realize that words can have consequences, even they’re uttered by a guy who got owned by Pete Davidson.