‘Liberals will continue to lose’: Bill Maher defends Milo Yiannopoulos booking after panelist boycotts
Journalist Jeremy Scahill, a frequent panelist on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” was booked to appear this Friday but canceled after he found out Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos would also be a guest. Yiannopoulos is known for his provocative stories with such headlines as “Gay rights have made us dumber, it’s time to get back in the closet.” He was also permanently banned from Twitter last year — a feat that takes some doing. Among his transgressions was targeting SNL comedian Leslie Jones, calling her “barely literate,” and rallying his hundreds of thousands of followers to direct racist, sexist missives to her. (She briefly quit Twitter over the abuse.)
Scahill, a founding editor of the Intercept, explained himself on Twitter. He took great pains to express his admiration for the producers and writers of the show. He even sang the praises — with a few big caveats — of host Maher. But he called Yiannopoulos’s appearance “many bridges too far.”
“He has ample venues to spew his hateful diatribes,” Scahill wrote. “Appearing on ‘Real Time’ will provide Yiannopoulos with a large, important platform to openly advocate his racist, anti-immigrant campaign.”
Why I will not appear…
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