WASHINGTON – The Rev. Al Sharpton said Sunday there’s nothing funny about comedian Bill Maher using the N-word.
“Oh no! There are no exceptions that make this acceptable,” Sharpton said on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” in railing against the HBO star.
Maher has since apologized for the racial slur and HBO said it will remove the “deeply offensive comment” from any subsequent airings of the “Real Time with Bill Maher Show.”
Sharpton has led the charge against conservative commentators for saying racially insensitive things, including Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh.
On his Sunday talk show, Sharpton said civil rights activists must be consistent in their outrage when the N-word is used – even by their friends.
“He doesn’t get a pass because we’re friends,” Sharpton said. “What Bill Maher did was normalize a word that is anything but normal.”
Maher used the N-word during an interview Friday with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).
“I’ve got to get to Nebraska more,” Maher told the politician.
“You are welcome,” Sasse said. “We’d love to have you work in the fields with us.”
“Work in the fields?! Senator, I’m a house, n—-r,” Maher said.
The comment sparked laughs and groans from the audience.
Maher quickly quipped: “It’s a joke.”
Sasse didn’t address the controversy in real time, and said he regrets not speaking up.
“Me just cringing last night wasn’t good enough,” Sasse tweeted this weekend. Maher issued an apology Saturday: “The word was offensive and I regret saying it and am very sorry.”