Students

Bill Maher Criticizes College Student Who Wrote Open Letter to Jerry Seinfeld (VIDEO)

By

Bill Maher, a political satirist with a talk show on HBO, is once again taking to task a college student for the ongoing debate about social sensitivity in higher education.

Late last year, students at the University of California - Berkeley tried to block Maher from speaking at their school because of his controversial comments on Islam. Maher responded by criticizing the students' rigid political correctness and taking it as an opportunity to highlight how reluctant colleges are to be offensive.

Shortly after, Chris Rock spoke to New York Magazine about Maher's comments and why hypersensitivity has kept him away from college campuses. Speaking with ESPN's Colin Cowherd earlier this month, Jerry Seinfeld said the same thing.

"I hear that all the time," Seinfeld said. "I don't play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me, 'Don't go near colleges. They're so PC.'"

Anthony Berteaux, a campus editor-at-large for the Huffington Post at San Diego State University, wrote an open letter to Seinfeld "to refocus the conversation to the state of comedy that you feel like we would call 'racist' or 'sexist.'"

Berteaux went on to give examples of comedians he believes are progressing the dialogue on social issues through funny, thought-provoking jokes, such as Amy Schumer and Louis C.K.

Maher used the op-ed to rehash the discussion on hypersensitivity, verbally delivering his own open letter.

"Now, I sure wouldn't want to be judged by what I wrote at 20, but stupid though I was in 1976, I wouldn't have presumed to lecture George Carlin on comedy," Maher said on his show. "But since he can't, allow me.

"Dear you little s--t, I'm sure you're busy with your new letter explaining astrophysics to Stephen Hawking and giving jump shot pointers to Steph Curry, but try to get a clue."

Maher went on to argue that if multiple comedians are saying they are avoiding college campuses for fear of hypersensitivity, then college campuses might be too PC. He also argued, as Rock indicated in his interview with New York Magazine, that the issue is not new, that Carlin was addressing it up until his death in 2008.

"Everyone gets made fun of for something, and it's never 100 percent fair," Maher said. "If I make a 'and the French surrendered' joke, everyone laughs, even though the French haven't surrendered in every war, in fact mostly in just the one, but it was kind of an important one so they have to own it."

© 2024 University Herald, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Join the Discussion
Real Time Analytics