By Marlow Stein
Before he was roundly denounced for dropping the n-word,
Bill Maher made another egregious error: He welcomed Milo Yiannopoulos
on his HBO program. Yiannopoulos, an outré performance artist and
alt-right fellow traveler, was given a platform on Real Time to promote his book and espouse his hateful views, which range from transmisogyny to outright racism.
Instead of challenging his guest, however, Maher mostly acquiesced,
praising the provocateur’s anti-PC shtick and gushing, “I think a lot of
people do miss your humor.”
Days later, when it came to light that Yiannopoulos had repeatedly defended hebephilia, he was dropped from Breitbart News
and excoriated by the left- and right-wing press. And Maher, ever the
egotist, took a victory lap—claiming credit for his guest’s downfall by
asserting that an appearance on a major cable network helped expose the
troll for what he was. “As I say, sunlight is the best disinfectant,”
offered Maher, adding, “You’re welcome.”
Of course, Maher had absolutely nothing to do with Yiannopoulos’
undoing. After he was announced as a keynote speaker at the popular
conservative convention CPAC—opening for President Trump, no less—it
prompted shadowy right-wing outfit The Reagan Battalion to dig up the
damning footage of Yiannopoulos condoning hebephilia. It was hard evidence and reporting that led to his ruination, not a highly rated TV exchange that only bolstered his reputation.
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Source: The Daily Beast
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