After a week like this — in which the country’s National Security Advisor resigned because of ties to the Kremlin, someone nicknamed “the foreclosure king” was put in charge of the economy and the president did something so shameful to a black reporter it’s actually too depressing to type it out — it’s borderline quaint to argue about someone like Milo Yiannopoulos…
For many in the queer community, fighting Milo has been a grating and exhausting long-term battle. The former Breitbart columnist who commandeered the troll troops to attack Leslie Jones and claimed that “Islam is the real rape culture” has still managed to find his way to the public eye — first, by appearing in a glowing Out Magazine puff piece, then by touring college campuses nationwide.
Now, it’s by showing up on Bill Maher.
Every time he makes a public appearance that’s not on his Facebook page, he triggers the same outrage cycle:
- People on Twitter rise up in protest, threaten to boycott “XYZ” and destroy it forever.
- Someone writes a viral hot take arguing that, “Blablabla, you may not agree with him . . . but free speech!”
- The internet then goes after the hot-taker, who proceeds to compose a middling tweet along the lines of, “Why can’t we just agree to disagree?”
- Someone from the show issues a watered down statement that is literally impossible to decipher, 10 news organizations repost that exact same statement and call it a story.
- Milo appears anyway. He builds his fan base. The cycle begins again.
–Heather Dockray
Bill Maher Doesn’t Understand How Milo Yiannopoulos Works
Larry Wilmore ate his brain. He saw a hack with a one-joke act and called it out. It was beautiful. I’ve watched this clip ten times. It makes me smile every time.
What did you do to us, Comedy Central? Wilmore’s landed on his feet — he’s a proven TV writer, he’ll never lack a job. But we need Larry! We need him, now! Dammit, Comedy Central! You bastards!
Yeah, it was the only real pushback he got. I really admire Malcolm Nance, but he treated Milo as the clown he is. I was glad to see Wilmore go after him. And the beauty is that it was so relaxed. I loved the subcontext, which was, “You know, if we were bottom-feeders like you, kick your ass when the cameras stopped rolling. But I’m most bothered by Maher. This is what I wrote on Facebook recently:
Here’s the thing: everyone, and I mean *everyone*, has their limits on free speech. An Milo’s appearance on Real Time wasn’t about free speech anyway. No one is stopping him from saying what he wants. Bill Maher allowing Milo to come off as a lovable rogue to his 4+ million viewers was Bill Maher’s decision. I hope he’s proud!
He should stand up for “free speech” and “comedy” now by having Milo on his show every week. How about a new segment, “Milo’s Oral Sex Tips I Learned From My Priest”?
Otherwise, get off the free speech bandwagon. Free speech isn’t something at applies only to vile people. Maher attacked liberals for their speech *far* more than he did Milo for his.
And note how all those “free speech” lovers at CPAC ditched Milo’s “free speech” the moment he said something they disagreed with. I think it’s much the same with Maher. Mostly, he liked that Milo was an outspoken Islamophobe like he is. I wonder if that would be enough to offset the pedophilia comments? I kind of think not because — What a surprise! — Bill Maher has his limits too.
Maher’s a good joke writer. And he’s got enough sense to appreciate other good joke writers. That’s why his scripted jokes on HBO are consistently funny. That’s why Al Franken was a repeat guest on his old Comedy Central show (even back then, Al had a knack for pinning down wriggly politicians), and Chris Rock was the field correspondent to Republican primaries. “Once again, Bill, I am the only Black person here.” Mather has a far better eye for talent than Lorne Michaels ever did.
I don’t understand what he’s doing with the foul, lying guests on his show. I looked up that claim Milo made about transgendered people and sex crimes; it’s utter rubbish, as you’d expect, unless you count the sex crimes transgendered people are victims of.
Grover Norquist. Hitchens after he turned Evil. Harris. WTF, man? There’s enough less-repugnant conservatives out there, you can have them on.
I wonder if Maher misunderstands his own talents. He’s a good joke writer. So is Don Rickles. Neither are fearless truth-tellers! It’s an act, and it’s a perfectly good one. But it’s not heroism against the great mass of easily offended wimps. It’s people who pay for your act because they enjoy it.
And I don’t enjoy watching Republicans lie. Argue away, my friends. I don’t like lies.