The rapper and two activists all confirmed that they will be appearing on Maher's show after the n-word controversy.
On Friday, Bill Maher was dragged for filth on the Internet after he referred to himself as a “house n****r” while talking to Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse on his show, Real Time with Bill Maher.
Al Sharpton, Chance the Rapper, Black Twitter and plenty of others were outraged and even called for Maher to be fired for his offensive comment.
Although a few have dropped out of their upcoming appearances on Maher’s show, it was announced that Ice Cube is planning to keep his previously scheduled appearance this Friday.
In a statement, Ice Cube’s spokesperson said, “Ice Cube will still appear on Bill Maher this Friday as scheduled to talk about the release of Death Certificate: 25th Anniversary edition, an album that was recorded in the wake of the Rodney King beating in 1991, which sadly, speaks to many of the same race issues that we as a society are still dealing with today.”
HBO also apologized on behalf of Maher with the following statement: “Bill Maher’s comment last night was completely inexcusable and tasteless. We are removing his deeply offensive comment from any subsequent airings of the show.”
Many speculate that Ice Cube’s reason for still doing the show will be to address the controversy of last week’s episode. After Senator Al Franken canceled his appearance on Maher’s show, HBO announced that professor and author Michael Eric Dyson will replace Franken as a guest on Friday’s show. Activist and former national press secretary for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Symone Sanders, will also join the conversation.
“I am still planning on doing the show Friday,” Sanders told the Huffington Post in a email this week. “I thought Maher’s comment, Ben Sasse’s reaction and the crowd’s applause were all equally distasteful, inappropriate and offensive. I am glad Maher too recognized as such and issued an apology.”
We can only hope that Ice Cube, Sanders and Dyson will be able to help Maher truly understand his wrongdoing, and possibly inspire the viewing audience’s future words and actions.
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[NOISE] Last night's season two premier of Black-ish, where they decided to take on the use of the N word. The youngest son Jake raps the N word while performing Kanye West's Gold Digger at a school talent show. When Jack gets threatened by the school with expulsion, it sparks a debate within his family, with everyone taking different sides on whether the word is okay. Okay. So is this a slay? Because people of every color have their own opinions about the N word. And show runner Kenya Barris wanted to use Blackish as a platform to continue an open and honest conversation about it. Or as a shade. Blackish, featuring the N word draws unwanted attention to the word and trivializes a very serious topic. Alright. Count of three, one, two, three. Slayed or shade? Slayed, slayed, shade. Ooh, Melanie! Okay. Oh. I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong side, actually. Oh. But I'll say this. Talk to me. [LAUGH] You can have a sla-shay, a sla-shay. Listen, I believe in the universe. This is what it prompted me to do and this is what came up. [CROSSTALK] You know what? Let me just own it. I just think both. If this could be a slayed and a shade, I would say yes. Absolutely, I think it trivializes the word to an extent. Yes, people have their right to express what they say. I'm not a fan of the word at all. But it is in music. It is in pop culture, which is why I could also say, a slayed. Slayed. I get that. And it is a reality of what it is. But The fact that this is what came up first, I'm gonna own this and I'm just gonna say I don't like that word. I don't wanna hear it. [LAUGH] Got you, all right. Cori? What I loved about Blackish last night was how they- But I love the show. [LAUGH] Really dwelled into the nuances of that word. Especially when Anthony Anderson's character came home and was talking with Laurence Fishburne like, well you've said it, you said it growing up. [LAUGH] And then his mom had said. Said it like literally five minutes before. So and I grew up in a household with the word. And I always go back to that Chris Rock line, there are black folks and then there are whatever. Mm-hm. I'll admit sometimes I use it. But I do remember Oprah Winfrey saying, when she did the interview with Jay-Z in They had this conversation and she said it's the last thing folks heard before they were lynched. And that made me check myself. I'm like okay, I need to stop saying it as well. But I think they slayed it as far as showing all the nuances and how complicated it is. But white folks shouldn't use it ever. No. You can never use it. [LAUGH] [INAUDIBLE] Essence.com. Tell your friends. They can't use it. Well, nobody, actually. No one. [CROSSTALK] And Bev, you get the final word. Well, the final word is this, for me. I think it's a teachable moment and I think we need more honesty around the world. We need to have more conversations and the fact that it's on a show called Black-ish that's on ABC means the world to me And I think that there are probably some white people, or people that are not black, that have been educated about the nuances of the word, because of the show. So I say kudos to them. I think Kenya is a genius show runner, and I love the show, and I'm glad they exist. [MUSIC]
