Maher calls for ‘affirmative action’ for conservatives in show business

HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher joked Friday that there should be “affirmative action” for conservatives in show business, listing the failed entertainment careers of several right-leaning media figures.

“We need affirmative action for Republicans in show business. They’re not good enough to make it on their own, but if we give it a leg up, maybe they won’t take their rejection out on the whole country,” Maher said on the left-leaning late-night show. 

“It’s not our fault that your celebrities are Ted Nugent, Pat Sajak and Donald Trump,” he said elsewhere in his monologue.

Maher mentioned the A-list roster of musicians and celebrities who appeared at the inauguration ceremonies for former President Obama, as opposed to Trump’s in 2017. 

{mosads}

“And then there’s Dana Loesch, who America has come to know as the fiery voice of the [National Rifle Association], blaming gun violence and all our problems on Hollywood and its liberalism,” said Maher.

The HBO host said a producer said the gun rights activist once pitched him an idea for a sitcom based on her life as a talk-show host. 

“The same thing happened to both the founder of the right wing Breitbart website, Andrew Breitbart … and to his successor there Steve Bannon, also a show biz reject who didn’t have the talent to cut it here, who spent the rest of his life hating Hollywood and by extension all liberals,” Maher said. 

The website’s late founder said in his memoir that he originally came to Hollywood to be a comedy writer, while Bannon spent years writing historical documentaries that were met with a tepid critical response. 

“That is why I implore tonight all Hollywood execs next time a conservative comes to you with a really dumb idea for a movie or a TV show, just f—— do it,” Maher said to applause.