{"id":446885,"date":"2026-02-01T08:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446885\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:47:11","slug":"bill-maher-torches-celebrity-activism-for-pushing-americans-to-maga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446885\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher Torches Celebrity Activism For Pushing Americans to MAGA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Maher is once again taking up the mantle of being Hollywood\u2019s anti-woke crusader\u2014this time unloading on celebrity activism, which he says is handing elections to Republicans.<\/p>\n

On Friday\u2019s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher<\/a>, the 70-year-old host took aim at what he calls \u201cposer\u201d politics, ripping celebrities who use awards shows, red carpets, and social media to signal political values. <\/p>\n

According to Maher, the spectacle doesn\u2019t inspire voters\u2014it repels them. \u201cRead the room, Democrats,\u201d he warned, arguing that celebrity political posturing mostly activates eye rolls, not turnout. \u201cYou\u2019re making independents vote Republican,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n

\"BillBill Maher on his show “The Real Time.” HBO <\/p>\n

Maher\u2019s rant came as he addressed lingering backlash from his Golden Globes red carpet appearance earlier this month, when he brushed off a reporter\u2019s question about why he wasn\u2019t wearing a lapel pin honoring Renee Nicole Good<\/a>, the 37-year-old Minneapolis mother of three killed by an ICE agent.<\/p>\n

Several stars wore pins reading \u201cBe Good\u201d and \u201cICE Out\u201d to protest Good\u2019s killing and the subsequent surge of federal agents into the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

Maher admitted he was caught off guard by the question\u2014but made clear he had zero regrets. He told the audience, if he had more time to think about the question, \u201cmy answer would be exactly the same.\u201d The studio erupted in applause as Maher mocked the controversy with a blunt summary: \u201cICE, thugs, pins\u2014stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JeanJean Smart poses while wearing a “Be Good” pin honoring Renee Nicole Good during the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards. CBS Photo Archive\/CBS via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Maher briefly acknowledged that Good\u2019s death \u201cshouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quickly pivoted to shifting blame, claiming that if people \u201cdidn\u2019t act like such thugs, it wouldn\u2019t have had to happen.\u201d From there, he returned to his real target: celebrities who turned the tragedy into what he sees as performative resistance. \u201cI don\u2019t need to wear a pin about it,\u201d he said flatly.<\/p>\n

\"AA demonstrator holds a sign with a photo of Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old woman fatally shot by an ICE officer, as he takes part in the nationwide “Stop ICE Terror” rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 20, 2026 in protest against US President Donald Trump’s policies. ROBERTO SCHMIDT\/ROBERTO SCHMIDT \/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Maher seemed genuinely baffled that the moment sparked outrage at all. Recounting how his phone lit up afterward, he joked that when he finally checked why people were telling him to \u201cstay strong,\u201d his reaction was: \u201cHoly f\u2014, is this what you people are so worked up about?\u201d<\/p>\n

The flare-up is hardly an outlier for Maher, who has previosly crticized the \u201cwoke left\u201d\u2014especially its wealthiest spokespeople. He has repeatedly framed celebrity activism as a net negative for Democrats, insisting that Hollywood\u2019s loudest voices do more harm than good.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Ruffalo attends the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 11, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. Amy Sussman\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Maher mocked stars who wore Ukrainian flags last year, dismissing them as \u201cvirtue-signaling body ornaments.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re just crucifixes for liberals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also took direct aim at celebrities who backed Kamala Harris during her failed 2024 presidential run, name-checking figures like George Clooney, Beyonc\u00e9, and Taylor Swift. Their involvement, Maher argued, didn\u2019t elevate Harris\u2014it reinforced the perception that Democrats are out of touch with ordinary voters. Celebrity endorsements, he said, are not political assets but liabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Beyonce2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris embraces singer Beyonc\u00e9 at a campaign rally in Houston, Texas. Jordan Vonderhaar\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

While he now insists celebrities should stick to distracting us from world issues, he has previously praised<\/a> famous figures as a \u201cforce for good\u201d capable of advancing social change. <\/p>\n

Maher leaned fully into the latter framing on Friday, arguing that wealth and privilege fundamentally disqualify stars from speaking credibly about most political issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cCelebrities don\u2019t strike people as relatable,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat their activism mostly activates is eye rolls\u2014because stars, they\u2019re not just like us. They\u2019re just not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

To drive the point home, Maher rattled off examples of what he sees as Hollywood excess: Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s vagina-scented candles, Johnny Depp buying entire towns, Tyler Perry and Shakira purchasing private islands, and Holly Madison insuring her breasts for $1 million. <\/p>\n

These are not voices of the working class, Maher said, but rather \u201cinsulated divas\u201d gorging themselves on luxury while lecturing voters about morality.<\/p>\n

Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on Substack<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> for even more coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Maher is once again taking up the mantle of being Hollywood\u2019s anti-woke crusader\u2014this time unloading on celebrity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[13689,49,48,361,75,68682],"class_list":{"0":"post-446885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-bill-maher","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-real-time"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}