Way too many people have been personally affected by the insensitive and disrespectful remarks made by comedian Bill Maher. His so-called "comedy" is nothing more than sugar-coated hate speech, showing zero empathy or respect for others. It's clear that his devotion to freedom of speech is merely a guise to spread harmful rhetoric.

Bill Maher has a significant platform, with his TV show being the highest-rated show on HBO and 201st overall. (source: Nielsen Ratings). This means that his harmful messages are reaching a vast audience, potentially influencing their views and attitudes towards marginalized groups. The worst part is that he claims to be a champion of free speech, when in reality he practices confirmation bias by having his producers deliberately seek out audience members who will heckle anyone with an opposing viewpoint, mocking protesters with legitimate grievances, and defending bigotry and discrimination as “not a big deal.” To top it all off, he only gives platforms to people with opposing viewpoints to deflect these criticisms, while spending that time mocking and belittling them all except those who will kiss his ass on certain issues (such as Russel Brand, who thinks vaccines are worse than election misinformation, and Elon Musk, who’s idea of protecting free speech is allowing fascist hate to run rampant for profit while suppressing Musk’s critics and banning anyone who speaks out against the fascist hate).

His upcoming tour is titled “WTF?,” but given Maher’s track record, there’s the very real possibility that this tour will just be a platform for him to spread harmful and misinformed rhetoric and narcissistically demand that he be treated as the smartest person who ever lived. This tour is a golden opportunity for us to take a stand against this kind of behavior and show him that there are perfectly good reason why not everyone will kiss his ass. By boycotting his performances, we can send a strong message that hate speech disguised as comedy will not be tolerated.

We must hold public figures accountable for their words and actions; we must also show them that they can’t throw around accusations of “cancel culture” and “woke politics” to evade consequences and silence their critics. It’s time we demand better from our entertainers and ensure they use their platforms responsibly.

Please sign this petition to boycott Bill Maher’s upcoming tour – let’s stand together against hate speech in all its forms!