HBO’s “Real Time” host Bill Maher blasted Twitter’s handling of Christian satire site The Babylon Bee, defending the outlet and accusing the social media giant of a “complete lack of self-awareness.”
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Twitter’s recent flagging of a Babylon Bee video was at the center of Maher’s remarks during Friday night’s “Real Time,” as the host seem flummoxed over Twitter’s handling of the situation.
The satirical video in question featured a fictional woman named Mandy who went to a faux, Twitter-sponsored therapy session to complain about Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media company.
“If he buys our free speech platform, people will be able to have — free speech on our platform,” Mandy whines in the video before storming out of the room and screaming, as images of Musk’s face pop up all over the room:
The video, clearly meant as an act of satire aimed at Twitter being overtly thin-skinned, was then reportedly, in real life, flagged by Twitter as insensitive.
And Maher had plenty to say about the irony of it all.
“They posted a funny video, ‘sensitive content,’ Twitter said. In the video, they were making fun of Twitter for being too sensitive. This is so ‘Through the Looking Glass!'” Maher said on “Real Time.” “This is well within what satire has always been. And the fact that they flagged this for being insensitive shows their complete lack of self-awareness about what their own problem is.”
He continued, “If that’s where the line is, you have failed, Twitter. You do need a new sheriff.”
Watch his comments:
Maher also said Twitter has failed in its other efforts to “judge” what can be shared on the platform, noting issues with both the New York Post’s coverage of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, as well as initial restrictions on theories about COVID-19 potentially coming from a lab.
“Has Twitter failed in setting itself up in the past as the judge of what can go out there? And I would say yes, you have,” he said. “You failed when you threw the New York Post off of Twitter for talking about Hunter Biden’s emails. And it turned out that was a real story. You failed when you said we couldn’t read about whether COVID had come from a lab. You failed!”
The Babylon Bee has continued to be at the center of censorship headlines after Twitter locked the satire site’s account in March.
As Faithwire previously reported, The Babylon Bee was locked out over a post about U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, a biological male who identifies as female.
The tweet included an image of the transgender official and text that read, “The Babylon Bee’s Man of the Year Is Rachel Levine.” Twitter reportedly slapped The Babylon Bee with an injunction, demanding the tweet be removed for The Bee to regain access to its account.
The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, who has not been willing to delete the tweet, has questioned why Twitter won’t simply delete the post.
He told CBN’s Faithwire he believes the ultimatum to The Babylon Bee to delete the message or risk losing access to crucial Twitter features is about forcing The Babylon Bee to “bend the knee” and admit they were wrong.
“To require us to go in there and delete the tweet and affirm that we engage in hateful conduct — I mean, how can you expect us to do that?” Dillon told CBN’s Faithwire. “They’re more than welcome to delete that tweet if they want to. It’s their platform. But why should we have to do it? They just want us to bend the knee.”
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