Posted in: HBO, Opinion, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Bill Maher, elon musk, HBO, opinion, Real Time, twitter

Bill Maher, Elon Musk Pity Party: All Ego-Stroking & Victim-Blaming

Bill Maher & Elon Musk held a pity party playdate during this week's edition of HBO's "Real Time" - and it's exactly what you would expect.

If you tuned into Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher not expecting Bill Maher and Twitter overlord Elon Musk to spend nearly 20 minutes jerking off each other's egos, the… PLEASE TELL ME WHERE YOU LIVE SO I CAN LIVE THERE, TOO? PLEASE? I WON'T TELL ANYONE! Because clearly, you're living in a world where unicorns run free, where UFOs are real, and where aging, midlife crisis-inflicted millionaire & billionaire man-children aren't bitter about time (and younger generations) passing them by. That's not the world that the less-than-dynamic duo lives in because in between telling each other how great they are? It was all about them being the victims.

In fact, Maher summed up the problem in the following statement: "It's interesting, you [Musk] and I are both in that little group of people, maybe it's a bigger group now, who are called conservative who haven't really changed." And there it is. Maher and Musk haven't changed. They're still the same open-minded societal prophets they always imagined that they were – it's all of you that have changed. So it's your fault. You know, like when a comic hasn't refreshed their act in a long time and then blames a 2023 audience for not appreciating their 1996 act. So, if not enough people read this opinion piece? It's not my fault – it's the readers for not appreciating my unique talent. I'm sure my editor will f***ing love that.

Here's a look at some of the lowlights (using "highlights" here would mean sh***ing on the definition of a highlight), along with some added "tough love" commentary that we feel "Pizza Man" and SNL's sympathy host need to hear:

Musk: "I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech. So those are two of the aspects of the 'woke mind virus' that I think are very dangerous…. you can't question things; even the questioning is bad. Almost synonymous would be cancel culture. And obviously, people have tried to cancel you [Maher] many times."

Reality: There's nothing "dangerous" about under-represented groups finally having a voice and pushing back on bullshit that they've been asked to "grain & bear it" for generations. Oh, and there's a difference between wanting to "question things" and the owner of Twitter pushing whackjob conspiracy theories about Nancy Pelosi's husband being brutally attacked. And if anyone thinks wishing violence and death upon large groups of people is "free speech," then they might want to take one of those YouTube courses on the Constitution. Here's hoping that Musk's love of "free speech" also applies when it's used against him – wouldn't want Musk to be accused of being a hypocrite. Oh, and Maher? Much like Dave Chappelle, Maher keeps being "canceled" into larger and larger paychecks – almost as if it was all really just bull**it?

Musk: Saying that he thinks of himself "as a moderate" ("at least"), Musk added, "I've spent a massive amount of my life energy building sustainable energy, electric vehicles and batteries and solar and stuff to help save the environment. It's not exactly far-right."

Reality: Sounds like what Musk is trying to say here is that he's spent enough money to buy himself societal respect… SO WHY WON'T ANYONE LOVE HIM?!? While I applaud Musk for finding innovative ways to make lots of money with questionable results, he needs to understand that he can't "profit" his way to becoming some kind of societal prophet. He talks of these initiatives as if he's giving them away for free – and we all know that's not the way business works. And while his donations are appreciated & will come in handy, they're also tax write-offs… and public relations moves.

Musk: "The experience that we had in high school and college is not the experience that kids today are having, and hasn't been for 10 years, maybe 20 years… Parents are generally not aware of what their kids are being taught, or what they're not being taught. Let me give you an example that a friend of mine told me. His daughters go to high school in the Bay Area, and he was asking them, 'Who are the first few presidents of the United States.' They could name Washington, so he said, 'What do you know about him?' 'That he was a slaveowner.' 'What else?' 'Nothing.' Like, okay, maybe you should know more than that. Slavery is obviously a horrific institution, but we should still know more about George Washington than that."

Reality: DID HE REALLY GO THE "I HAVE A FRIEND" ROUTE?! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! First off, I'm personally trashing that "a friend of mind" story because it's a steamy pile of s**t. But let's say that Musk's telling the truth and didn't go down the lamest route possible?  Well, I think this speaks more about what a shitty parent Musk's friend is and how his daughters are either dealing with a learning issue, not into having conversations about dead presidents with their dad, or just f***ing stupid (I can write that since I don't believe they exist, even if Musk retro-fits them to). But the truly scary part about what Musk had to say is the application that teaching the truth behind America's history is a bad thing. And we all know what happens when power-hungry rich folks start going after the school systems – ignorance ensues.

Maher: "It's so easy to get canceled, and I don't even know what pisses them off, these kids."

Reality: The only thing missing was Maher sitting on the front porch of his shack in a rocking chair with a shotgun, waiting for "these kids" to trespass on his lawn as he shakes his fist & yells at the clouds for being clouds.

Musk: "My concern with Twitter was that it is somewhat of the digital town square, and it's important that there be both the reality and perception of trust for a wide range of viewpoints. And there was a lot of censorship going on, and I uncovered a lot of that with the Twitter Files, including a lot of government-driven censorship, which it seems that's gotta be a constitutional violation, what was going on there."

Reality: The only thing that's resulted from the "Twitter Files" was a nasty public breakup between Musk and this dude whose writing I used to respect, and that dude got his ass handed to him for just some of his inaccuracies by MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan – take a look:

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!