Bill Maher and Panel Criticize ‘Performative Wokeness’: When Will ‘Mainstream Liberals’ Stand Up?

Bill Maher Friday night criticized both “purity tests” on the left and what one panelist called “performative wokeness.”

Maher first knocked Democrats for the industries candidates have pledged not to take money from, even bringing up how the RNC kept money from Steve Wynn while the DNC donated money it got from Harvey Weinstein.

“Steve Wynn was found––he got #MeToo’d. ‘We’re keeping the money.’ Harvey Weinstein? They give the money back. Why?” Maher asked. “His money didn’t rape anybody.”

He then spoke with the New York Times‘ Bari Weiss about how “social justice warriors” are “finally finding that maybe there’s a price to pay,” given the news this week about a jury awarding a bakery millions in damages in a defamation case against Oberlin College.

Weiss talked about not just the Oberlin case, but the case of an author who got blowback for posting a picture of a DC Metro worker eating on the train and is now suing her publisher after losing her book deal.

Weiss said “the idea that Twitter is not real life” is belied by “the kind of reputational damage it can cause.”

The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes said he’s concerned about the “bullying” culture, while Martin Short asked why anyone’s on Twitter in the first place. Eliot Spitzer said the problem with Twitter is that there’s basically no editor.

Sykes said issues like the Oberlin bakery or efforts to ban Chick-fil-A are not really “political correctness,” but instead “performative wokeness,” where “we have to find a way to humiliate, to drive people out that we disagree with.”

Maher asked, “How can we get mainstream liberals to stand up to that faction?” Sykes brought up comments from Pete Buttigieg about being a bridge between the gay community and Chick-fil-A.

You can watch above, via HBO.