Bill Maher was met with dead silence after an attempt at a joke on “The View” on Tuesday morning. The moment was so tense, he turned to the audience to inform them he was making a joke.
The moment came during the second segment of his appearance, in support of his new book “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You,” as host Sunny Hostin called him out for using the word “woke,” and saying it’s “why Trump could get reelected.” Hostin was quick to argue that the word has been coopted by right wingers, and “weaponized and bastardized” in the process.
Maher shot back that people can “use any word you want” because, in his opinion, “words migrate,” just as political parties have changed.
“I mean, I think we agree about the danger of the super far right, and I can’t say it enough, I think they’re the bigger threat. But, don’t tell me that the left hasn’t changed,” Maher said. “I mean, I’m old enough to remember when it was the conservatives who hated the Jews, OK?”
Host Joy Behar was the only one at the table to respond, saying “Yeah.” But the rest of the table, as well as the studio audience was completely silence. So much so, that Maher paused a beat and then clarified, “That was a joke.”
“Too dark! Too dark,” host Alyssa Farah Griffin replied through a smattering of laughter from the crowd.
“Well, maybe it is, but it’s true,” Maher retorted.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
