Bill Maher’s ‘Rosa Parks’ Gag Draws Groans From Audience
The comedian made the joke while taking aim at an MSNBC guest who’d said it’s OK to snub relatives who voted Republican.
HBO /HBO
Bill Maher took aim at an MSNBC segment in which a chief psychiatric resident at Yale University said it was OK to snub MAGA-voting family members during the holidays.
“Ooo, how pure,” said Maher on Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. “It’s like, not letting certain people sit next to you on the bus,” he added, as a picture of civil rights activist Rosa Parks appeared beside him on the screen.
The gag drew a groan from the audience followed by a patter of laughter as Maher then looked skeptically off camera.
“I mean, think about that–a mental health professional advising people to isolate during the holidays and don’t forget to drink too much and put on weight,” he went on. “And at this Thanksgiving before the big meal, remember to take turns saying what you’re hateful about.”
He added, “You know who I really wouldn’t want to have Thanksgiving dinner with? This overly educated, i.e. extremely stupid, ivory tower academic.”
Despite his stated disdain for the Republican president-elect, mocking Democratic Party supporter’s perceived idiocy has proven something of a common refrain in Maher’s on-screen appearances since Trump’s victory earlier this month.
Last week, Maher lambasted left-wing voters for blaming sexism and racism for Kamala Harris’ electoral loss, suggesting people have been cleaving to the kind of “identity politics” he believes saw the Democratic Party defeated at the polls.
“Someone must tell the usual suspects on the far left that the saying is, ‘When you’re in a hole, stop digging.’ Not ‘keep digging’,” Maher told his audience on Nov. 15. “Talk about doubling down on what got you f---ed in the first place.”
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