Bill Maher tore into discussions in San Francisco about potential reparations, one of the proposals being a $5 million payment to Black residents. The comedian declared the entire thing “madness.”
Maher discussed the potential reparations on Friday in a discussion for Real Time with Bill Maher that included former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
NPR reported about the proposals being discussed in San Francisco:
In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the 11 members [of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors] accepted a draft plan of more than 100 reparations recommendations for the city’s eligible Black residents. Those proposals include a whopping one-time payment of $5 million to each adult and a complete clearing of personal debt — including credit cards, taxes and student loans. Black residents would also be able to collect an annual income of at least $97,000 for 250 years and buy homes within the city limits for $1.
“I mean it seems like, you know, when people ask why are you talking against the woke craziness- because it’s crazy. Isn’t that crazy? And by the way, San Francisco doesn’t have a history of slavery or anything like that, you know,” Maher said. “It would cost every citizen left $600,000 each. This is madness, is it not?”
Yang, who joked that even his universal basic income plan didn’t go “this far,” called the proposals part of a trend of relying on political statements more than actual policy.
“We have a lot of people at various stages of public office who are putting out bills and policies that are more for the messaging and stoking the fires on social media than actually trying to get something passed,” he said.
Maher later specifically targeted college campuses, honing in on recent protests of Donald Trump-appointed federal Judge Kyle Duncan, who faced shouting demonstrators at Stanford University when he went to speak. In a clip played by Maher, the school’s dean of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Tirien Steinbach asked Duncan if free speech is “worth the pain it causes.”
“‘Is it worth the pain?’ Is free speech ‘worth the pain?’ And is it really painful? Is it really painful?” Maher said. “If you don’t like this guy, don’t go to his lecture!”
Watch above via HBO.
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