Bill Maher: ‘Roseanne’s tweet was so abhorrent, it was bordering on presidential’

During his opening monologue on Real Time this Friday night, Bill Maher rattled off one of his best lines of the segment right out of the gate.

Addressing the fallout from Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet aimed at Valerie Jarrett among other verbal misfires from comedians, Maher pointed out that it had been a “tough week for the line — you know, the line that comedians sometimes cross?”

Adding the disclaimer that Roseanne “will always be my friend,” Maher said the “tweets she put out on Tuesday were so full of racism, conspiracy theories, and personal attacks, they were described as abhorrent bordering on presidential.”

Maher said that it’s no surprise to him that a person like Roseanne who clearly has a mental illness “could be taken in by a party that has lost its mind.”

Recalling how former Obama adviser Valerie Jarett said the fiasco was a “teaching moment,” Maher said: “What a day for Trump supporters, huh? First they lose their favorite show, then they get threatened with learning.”

Later in the segment, Maher took aim at people who are trying to equate comments he’s made in the past to Roseanne’s (Maher once compared Trump to an orangutan).

“Here’s why that’s a dumb analogy.”

“He was complaining that ABC never apologizes to him,” Maher said of Trump. “Yeah, because no one at ABC ever compared you to an ape. You’re thinking of me.”

“One, Trump is an orangutan,” he said. “Two, white people have not been subjected to a racist trope comparing them to apes for hundreds of years.”

Watch the full segment in the video below, via Real Time with Bill Maher:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.