Maher Challenges Lemon’s Claim Of Living ‘In Uncomfortable Spaces’

The ongoing anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the United States was a topic of discussion for comedian Bill Maher and guests on the latest episode of his HBO series “Real Time” on Friday.

Maher, a prominent liberal who has nonetheless expressed growing frustration with the left’s prioritization of identity politics, broached the conversation with former CNN host Don Lemon and New York University professor Scott Galloway, with all three acknowledging that the disruptive demonstrations are rooted in antisemitism.

Lemon, however, hedged his denunciation a bit, describing the anti-Israel sentiment as a “fad” that could benefit those students being targeted by the protesters.

“I’m not minimizing what’s going on, but it teaches some of these students to deal with discomfort,” he claimed. 

While Lemon’s stance initially drew some support from the host, his attempt to shift into a discussion of his own perceived status as an oppressed minority fueled some pushback.

https://twitter.com/PageSix/status/1784954201329504670

“Listen, I’m different than you guys,” Lemon said. “I’m a Black gay man, so I live in uncomfortable spaces all the time. And I think that’s a good lesson for college students.”

“Why?” Maher interjected. “What’s going on?”

Despite the push in recent years to create so-called “safe spaces” on campuses, Lemon replied that college “is not a comfortable place,” prompting Maher to bring the discussion back to his guest’s personal anecdote.

“No, but you said you live in those spaces,” he said. “Just tell me what.”

Lemon claimed that he is “often the only person of color in the room,” a statement Maher sought to put into perspective.

“There’s only three of us here,” the host responded to cheers from the audience. “Come on.”

Maher addressed the anti-Israel protests during a monologue segment of the same show, asserting that demonstrators who seek to highlight the supposed injustices in Gaza by disrupting traffic in the U.S. are hurting their own cause.

“You’d have to be pretty dumb to think that the way to bring people around to your point of view is to make them late to pick up their kids from daycare,” he asserted.

https://youtu.be/V7RNOh9Muk4?si=dnxbpa2ccZOLQIL0

As for the insistence among some protesters that Israel is engaging in a genocide against Palestinians, Maher concluded: “Genocide, by the way, is when you want to wipe out an entire people. That’s the stated goal of Hamas. That’s what ‘from the river to the sea’ means. Hamas would do that to Israel but can’t. Israel could do that to them but doesn’t.”