The Council on American-Islamic Relations slammed the Kennedy Center for honoring Bill Maher with the Mark Twain Prize.
The advocacy group, known as CAIR, released a statement Thursday following the announcement that the “Real Time” host would be honored with the prestigious award. The group called out the “double standards” at play in the Kennedy Center’s selection and called for rejections on all forms of hate.
“The Kennedy Center’s decision to give this prestigious award to Bill Maher highlights the glaring double standards surrounding bigotry and violence that exist in our society,” the statement read. “Mr. Maher would have never received this recognition if he were an antisemitic comedian who supported terrorism against Jewish-Americans or Israelis, but his open bigotry against Muslims and support for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza are somehow perfectly acceptable.”
It continued: “Until our society rejects all forms of hate and all forms of violence against innocent people as wrong, regardless of the victim, hypocrisy and inconsistency will continue to undermine the reputation of institutions like the Kennedy Center.”
Maher was selected to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Trump-Kennedy Center, despite White House officials previously describing his selection as “fake news.”
“Thank you to the Mark Twain people: I just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win,” Maher said in a Thursday statement. “I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”
“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, added. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”
Past recipients include Conan O’Brien, Tina Fey, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Letterman, Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart and Adam Sandler. The award will be presented on June 28 and the ceremony is set to stream on Netflix.
