Bill Maher on casting decisions and appropriation

[Anonymous]

He was spot on. Talking about acting gigs and controversy.

In this world, there is no Soul Man, there is no Eddie Murphy playing an old Jewish white man at the barbershop. Erik McCormack cannot play Will and in and on.

[Anonymous]

He’s spot on.

I’m a liberal who thinks Maher usually gets it right, and when he does he’s usually hitting it out of the park. He tends to sound the alarm on important issues that a lot of us agree with and he connects the dots as to why the issue is even more critical than most realize.

I just wish more people would listen. I wish he had a bigger platform. I wish cnn embraced Maher’s approach.

[Anonymous]

Really? I tend to think of Maher as an idiot.

[Anonymous]

He’s exactly right. Actors are …. Actors. They’re by definition taking on a role. So so so agree with him.

[Anonymous]

It's just another person who's stuck in the past. Can't see how times and cultural ethos and zeitgeist change.

I really do grow tired of this narrative that everything that happened in the past has to be consistent with where we are now. It's the very definition of conservatism... Enshrining an amber the way things are or were.

Maybe Maher can find a real problem to r iff on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He’s exactly right. Actors are …. Actors. They’re by definition taking on a role. So so so agree with him.

But the when the roles are so siloed and few opportunities for Latinos to play much other than gang members is where we are, we need to consider things. The notion that the right person for the role has to be someone like James Franco assumes that there aren't any Latino actors who could play the roles and also be the right person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? I tend to think of Maher as an idiot.

Why, exactly?

Tell me three things Maher has said that make you think he’s an idiot.

ICYMI: Maher said early on that Trump would never leave the WH gracefully. He literally predicted it years in advance with great detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s exactly right. Actors are …. Actors. They’re by definition taking on a role. So so so agree with him.

But the when the roles are so siloed and few opportunities for Latinos to play much other than gang members is where we are, we need to consider things. The notion that the right person for the role has to be someone like James Franco assumes that there aren't any Latino actors who could play the roles and also be the right person.

They audition before casting. I’m sure they auditioned Latinos.

The role should go to the best actor. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s exactly right. Actors are …. Actors. They’re by definition taking on a role. So so so agree with him.

But the when the roles are so siloed and few opportunities for Latinos to play much other than gang members is where we are, we need to consider things. The notion that the right person for the role has to be someone like James Franco assumes that there aren't any Latino actors who could play the roles and also be the right person.

But what about the opposite, as he pointed out. John Leguzamo, who is complaining about this, also played different ethnicities. Should he not have been "allowed" to play a Venetian? Should trans actors only be "allowed" to play trans characters? As Maher said, "that's not going to end well for anyone." Should Hamilton have not been made? Why is that OK?

I agree with him 1000% percent. Acting is acting, it's not pseudo-documentary time. It's transcending everything we know or assume to be true. If actors like John Leguzamo want to make this point, they better be prepared to only play Columbian-American characters from now on then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just another person who's stuck in the past. Can't see how times and cultural ethos and zeitgeist change.

I really do grow tired of this narrative that everything that happened in the past has to be consistent with where we are now. It's the very definition of conservatism... Enshrining an amber the way things are or were.

Maybe Maher can find a real problem to r iff on

So Ana De Aramis (sp?) not be allowed to play Monroe?

Will you cancel and boycott Hamilton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? I tend to think of Maher as an idiot.

Why, exactly?

Tell me three things Maher has said that make you think he’s an idiot.

ICYMI: Maher said early on that Trump would never leave the WH gracefully. He literally predicted it years in advance with great detail.

Only three? Easy.

1. He was (maybe still is) an antivaxxer and a pretty dumb one at that.

https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/bill-maher-vs-the-flu-vaccine/

2. His Islamophobia is next-level idiocy, enough so that that Counsel on Foreign Relations published an article about how Maher is making us even more stupid. I mean when Ben Affleck has to point out someone’s idiocy, you know you are not dealing with an intellectual heavyweight.

https://www.cfr.org/blog/bill-maher-makes-us-dumber-how-ignorance-fear-and-stupid-pop-culture-cliches-shape-americans

3. He is a long-standing and avid defender of Mary Kay Letourneau (whose victim was 12). From a 2007 interview with Playboy magazine:

If a 28-year-old male teacher is screwing a 13-year-old girl, that’s a crime," he said. "But with Debra Lafave screwing her 14-year-old boy student, the crime is that we didn’t get it on videotape. Was he being taken advantage of? I wish I had been taken advantage of like that. What a memory she gave him!"

He said something similar as far back as 1998 on his show:

(Letourneau) is in jail because she is in love," he said. "That's how I view it ... Basically, they're having a family and they're keeping the mother in jail because she won't conform to what society feels should be the perfect American family.

I mean I could go on for ages here. I didn’t even touch the fetid pile that is his Twitter feed. At this point, I usually think anyone who sings his praises has diminished capacities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He’s spot on.

I’m a liberal who thinks Maher usually gets it right, and when he does he’s usually hitting it out of the park. He tends to sound the alarm on important issues that a lot of us agree with and he connects the dots as to why the issue is even more critical than most realize.

I just wish more people would listen. I wish he had a bigger platform. I wish cnn embraced Maher’s approach.

I’m very progressive and, while I think he’s a pig and dislike him on principle, I do think he’s very smart and right more often than he’s wrong. Much like Hitchens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? I tend to think of Maher as an idiot.

I think he’s fantastic. He sees through all the BS and calls it like it is. This makes him VERY unpopular because people on the left despise him, and people on the right don’t like anyone unless they’re Maga.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s spot on.

I’m a liberal who thinks Maher usually gets it right, and when he does he’s usually hitting it out of the park. He tends to sound the alarm on important issues that a lot of us agree with and he connects the dots as to why the issue is even more critical than most realize.

I just wish more people would listen. I wish he had a bigger platform. I wish cnn embraced Maher’s approach.

I’m very progressive and, while I think he’s a pig and dislike him on principle, I do think he’s very smart and right more often than he’s wrong. Much like Hitchens.

You also support female teachers who rape their male students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s spot on.

I’m a liberal who thinks Maher usually gets it right, and when he does he’s usually hitting it out of the park. He tends to sound the alarm on important issues that a lot of us agree with and he connects the dots as to why the issue is even more critical than most realize.

I just wish more people would listen. I wish he had a bigger platform. I wish cnn embraced Maher’s approach.

I’m very progressive and, while I think he’s a pig and dislike him on principle, I do think he’s very smart and right more often than he’s wrong. Much like Hitchens.

You also support female teachers who rape their male students?

No. Did I say that?