In a recent episode of his podcast “Club Random,” comedian Bill Maher expressed his reluctance to perform for college crowds and young liberal audiences, arguing that they no longer “want to hear anything they don’t already agree with.”
The Host of the HBO talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” made the comments on his podcast while speaking with actor Ray Romano.
“They don’t want to hear anything they don’t already agree with,” Maher began. “They don’t want their minds pried open, and you know what? Let somebody else do it.”
Romano suggested that young audiences today might be divided over Maher’s political views. Maher, who has spent his entire career being a classical liberal, has become increasingly critical of many aspects of left-wing politics, particularly cancel culture and political correctness.
“You would have half this way and half this way, maybe,” Romano said, implying that Maher’s political beliefs would polarize young audiences.
Maher recounted his experience with student protests when he was invited, then uninvited, and subsequently re-invited to be the keynote speaker at the University of California, Berkeley’sgraduation in 2014. He expressed doubt that he would be welcome on campuses today.
“These kids? That would be the first thing they would do,” Maher said, referring to potential protests. “They don’t want to hear anything they don’t already agree with.”
Maher added that he refuses to hold back his opinions, even if they might provoke backlash from younger audiences.
“I’m not going to hold my tongue when they embrace stupid ideas,” he continued. “And of course, then they’ll just say the tritest, easiest, most erroneous thing lobbed at people like us is: ‘you’re old, now it’s about just get off my lawn.’”
Criticizing the lack of engagement with his points, Maher concluded that young people put “zero amount of thinking” into the actual points he’s making.
“You didn’t engage with the actual idea,” he complained.
This piece first appeared at TPUSA.
