In a series of tweets early Saturday morning, Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) responded to the growing uproar over Bill Maher's use of the "n-word" and his "cringing" reaction to it in the moment during Friday night's episode of Real Time on HBO. When Sasse invited Maher to come "work the fields" in Nebraska, Maher replied, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house nigga.” Sasse laughed politely as the audience groaned. Calling himself a "1st Amendment absolutist," Sasse expressed regret for not speaking up and wrote he wished he responded to Maher by saying, “Hold up, why would you think it’s OK to use that word? The history of the n-word is an attack on universal human dignity. It’s therefore an attack on the American Creed. Don't use it.”

— Matt Wilstein