Last Friday, Bill Maher became a social media trending topic for all the wrong reasons. The comedian/political pundit/TV host uttered the N-word with much ease during the live taping of his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher.
While interviewing Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse, Sasse invited Maher to “work in the fields” with him in Nebraska. To that, Maher responded, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house nigger.” Then, he put up his hands and said, “It’s a joke.”
Anyone who is remotely familiar with Maher know these two things about him: he’s an atheist and he dates Black women. Many feel like not only was Maher way out of line to use the N-word, but he said it in such a casual way that he most likely says it a lot.
Not only was Maher referring to himself as a “house nigger” a poor and offensive racial joke, it was also an inappropriate dig at slavery. Maher, along with HBO, both issued apologies, but the public is still mad.
Ice Cube is scheduled to make a guest appearance on tomorrow’s episode of Real Time, an interview which was set up before the N-word debacle. Cube will be promoting the anniversary and re-issue of his album, Death Certificate, but you can definitely expect him to share his thoughts with Maher on his usage of the N-word.
The rapper/filmmaker told Rolling Stone of the conversation surrounding the episode, “People are trying to go into this like, ‘What is it, why is it, how does it happen? Why is this still offensive? Should we use it, shouldn’t we use it?’ – this, that, and the other. And it becomes like a facade of a lot of bullshit. Everybody knows, because of white supremacy, black people got it bad. And it’s just not funny, the bully mentality.”
Cube goes on to say, “And he wants to talk about ‘house niggas,’ like they had it so much better? It’s like, please. It wasn’t a cakewalk for a so-called ‘house nigga,’ either, unless you like being raped. Sometimes, you gotta know when to shut up. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
Tomorrow’s “Real Time” will be a must watch!
