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Rep. Tlaib Urges Boycott of Bill Maher
Freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has urged a boycott of comedian Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time,” following his no-holds-barred critique of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against the apartheid state of Israel. Maher accused adherents and advocates of BDS of engaging in a “bullshit purity test.”
Tlaib responded in a tweet that she has had it with “folks” like Maher “discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom. Maybe folks should boycott his show,” she wrote on Saturday. “This is exactly how they tried to discredit & stop the boycott to stand up against the apartheid in S. Africa. It didn’t work then and it won’t now.”
Actually, Tlaib was responding to an earlier tweet by Intercept columnist Mehdi Hasan. Hasan’s tweet included a clip of a Maher’s “Real Time” panel critiquing BDS.
Sayeth Hasan: “Maher rails against BDS, Palestinians, and Omar/Tlaib with an all-white panel featuring no Palestinians, no Arabs, no Muslims, no people of colour. ‘Liberal’ Maher.”
Maher did not just criticize the Movement itself, but offered some near-slanderous ad hominem hits against its BDS supporters, calling them “people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class.”
