Posted in: HBO, Trailer, TV | Tagged: ann coulter, barney frank, Bernie Sanders, Bill Maher, bleeding cool, cable, donald trump, HBO, Ice Cube, late night, politics, Real Time, sexual harassment, streaming, television, tv

Real Time's Bill Maher: Bernie Sanders Staffer Alleging Sexual Harrassment and Getting "The Signals Wrong"

Self-appointed "voice of the people," self-proclaimed "woke" sexagenarian, and host of HBO's long-running late-night political "yuk-yuk" fest Real Time with Bill Maher Bill Maher continues his one-man campaign to be "The Smartest Guy in the Room" – and make sure each and every person within earshot of him doesn't forget it, gosh darn it!

Except two things happened on Friday night to HBO's libertarian (still???) answer to Bill O'Reilly that maybe he didn't expect – starting with pushback from both his audience over his announcement that controversial author and talking head Ann Coulter would join her "bestest buddy" Maher on next week's show. Not content with letting that be the headline, the early Bernie Sanders supporter had some "interesting" comments to make regarding allegations of sexism and harassment among Sanders' campaign staff.

● During a panel discussion, former congressman Barney Frank brought Coulter's name into the conversation as a reason for President Donald Trump changing his position on a bipartisan Congressional bill that would have kept the federal government open. Maher spring-boarded off Frank's comments by announcing Coulter would be on next week's episode – which brought the expected "boos" and jeers from the audience. But Maher – seeing an opportunity to put his "wokeness" on display like a proud peacock in the classiest way possible – wasn't having any of that directed at his friend: "Yeah, that's called a newsmaker. A policymaker. You'll have to suck on that."

● If you're Frank, it's bad enough that you were the catalyst for that news – but the "awkwardly inapprorpiate" levels blew past 11 when the conversation turned to allegations of sexism and harassment among Sanders' campaign staff during the candidate's 2016 presidential campaign. While some have called out the Senator for not addressing the allegations seriously enough, Maher viewed the controversy as another example of the progressive left turning on someone Maher feels is one of their own.

Debating the matter, Maher appeared to dismiss the seriousness of the accusations – that in some sense, the onus was on "one of the females on the campaign" for the staff member getting "the signals wrong" when her supervisor "touched her hair."

When Frank pushed back on Maher's comments ("That's a bad thing to say… that she 'signaled' him."), Maher stood his ground and argued that the staffer could've done more to stop the harrassment: "What's the matter with saying 'get your f*cking hand out of my hair?'"

Here's a look back at the last time Maher thought he could make a societal over-reach – and Ice Cube showing Maher what it's like to really be "The Smartest Guy in the Room":

Deadline Hollywood

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