The Oscars won’t last more than a week, but if they presented awards tonight to disaffected old white people, Sharon Osbourne and Bill Maher would end up in a draw.
“I’m sorry, I’m 65, you’re 68, I know who I am, I don’t need re-education,” the Real time the host exclaimed applause from his studio audience and a smile from Osbourne, on whom he praised fanboy. “We can’t judge everyone at their worst moments,” Maher said earlier in the softball interview as the first The conversation co-host turned down “disgruntled” ex-co-hosts and offered a steady stream of self-justifications for behavior that pulled her off the CBS show last month.
“I’ve been mentioned so many things in my life. I’m so used to being called names, but a ‘racist’ is one I won’t take.” @Marijkegroot #Real time pic.twitter.com/Wek5Iwqhxy
– Realtime with Bill Maher (@RealTimers) April 17, 2021
“I’ve been mentioned so many things in my life, I’m so used to being called names, but a racist is one I won’t accept,” Osbourne said to big applause in the much-hyped sit-down in the studio that was filmed earlier Friday. “I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine, like I said, I’m a fighter, I’ll be fine,” Osbourne continued, perhaps playing the populist card a little too hard.
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“It’s not fair because it’s not about being a racist,” she added. “The point may be that you don’t know what is correct and woke up that day to your language, because it changes from day to day,” continued Osbourne, as he landed in a nagging dig at Robin DiAngelo’s 2018 bestseller. White fragility in the process too.
“The idea is that you have two choices if you are white, you are a racist or a racist and you don’t know,” Maher eagerly jumped in with his best Tucker Carlson impression, or not. In fact, Maher’s binary analysis has finally taken the oxygen out of the studio, as even the usually enthusiastic audience groaned.
It later became the Osbourne-less panel portion of Real time, Maher continued in the same vile spirit when she blushed over the murder of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 20-year-old Daunte Wright by police earlier this week. “There is absolutely no excuse for what happened to these people when they were shot … but it is also good advice: don’t resist arrest,” Maher said. “That just never ends well, that’s not the place to take your stand.”
In her first interview since she quit The conversation Under a cloud of controversial comments about race and a defense of pal Piers Morgan’s full-scale beating of Meghan Markle’s royal revelations to Oprah on March 7, the one-time rock’n’roll manager can say she’s okay, but she definitely kicked lots of dust tonight on HBO’s Real Time – and the premium cabler host was definitely in her corner.
With the conclusion of an investigation into the heated March 10 discussion about the race between Osbourne and fellow co-host Sheryl Underwood, CBS announced on March 26 that the first, the last of The conversationThe original co-hosts had decided to leave the show after 11 seasons. While the day-timer drama roamed around the often inconsiderate Osbourne and The conversation went on a sudden hiatus, the founder of Ozzfest alternately an apologetic tweet and dig in her heels in arsonist interviews with people like Entertainment tonightThe latter burned many bridges and goodwill at CBS, sources told Deadline at the time.
Since jumping or being pushed The conversation, Osbourne, a CAA representative, despite stories of attorney and paid off, has pretty much stuck to innocuous social media posts until tonight.
Throwing shadow on ‘awake language’, beating the Duchess of Sussex, and largely missing the point with statements like ‘unless you agree with every person of color, it’s you. racist, ”Osbourne and Maher had a drum circle of mutual admiration, while totally missing the actual beat.
In fact, in their bubbling outrage over ‘all this drama’, to quote Maher on what Osbourne said and her support of Good morning Great Britain presenter Morgan, the duo only had one point of slight disagreement tonight. That schism came when Maher hinted that there may be some truth in the claims made by Markle and white ‘poster boy’ Prince Harry about racist treatment by their fellow Royals. The old bag is a 100, Maher joked about Queen Elizabeth II to Osbourne’s wry dismay.
On the eve of consort Prince Phillip’s funeral, Maher and Osbourne agreed that the scandal-ridden British royal family is “cold to everyone” and that the bi-racial Markle was no exception. Okay.
A hot-get for every show after her latest stint in the spotlight, the reluctant Osbourne was certainly expecting a likeable crash pad from Maher. The once self-described libertarian host has had its fair share of controversy over the years, much of it self-created and at times self-aggrandizing, like Osbourne.
I’ve seen advertisers leave his ABC show Politically incorrect In 2001, after refuting George W. Bush’s claim that the 9/11 terrorists were cowards, Maher was recently in the hot water for comments about slavery and the use of the N word on his HBO show.
Emmy winner Maher was not banned by the now AT&T outlet in 2017 after his idiotic comments. However, HBO called the comments “inexcusable and insipid” and then pulled the segment in which the comments appeared from a future iteration of the show. Maher himself later made a statement saying he “deeply regretted” using the racist slur.
The interview with Osbourne followed Maher’s monologue praising Joe Biden for his “kicking” and this week revealed his intention to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan after two decades of that front in the War on Terror.
Ian Bremmer and Rosa Brooks will also appear Real time tonight.