{"id":33228,"date":"2026-08-08T21:18:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33228"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:18:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:18:01","slug":"bill-maher-tells-dems-they-need-to-accept-whiteness-is-not-a-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33228","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher Tells Dems They Need to Accept \u2018Whiteness\u2019 Is \u2018Not a Disease\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5749419\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5749419\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5749419\" src=\"https:\/\/am13.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bill.jpg\" alt=\"Bill Maher hosting HBO&apos;s Real Time\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5749419\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot via HBO<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Bill Maher<\/strong> told Democrats they need to accept that &#8220;whiteness&#8221; is &#8220;not a disease&#8221; during a rant against progressive Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful <strong>Francesca Hong<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tag\/real-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Real Time<\/em><\/a>, Maher targeted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tag\/francesca-hong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hong<\/a> in his opening monologue and later returned to the subject of her and other progressive Democrats, calling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/politicos-jonathan-martin-confronts-democratic-socialist-on-abolishing-the-police-this-system-is-not-working\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate<\/a> out specifically for discussing her &#8220;proximity to whiteness&#8221; due to her mixed race child.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look at this Francesca Hong. I mentioned it in the monologue, what she said about whiteness and toxicity. She described her son \u2014 now she has an ex-husband white. Okay. She&#8217;s Asian. She described it as wrestling with \u2014 this is her own son \u2014 being in proximity to whiteness. Of all the things I think the Democrats have to lose, number one, whiteness, it&#8217;s not a disease,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Maher added, &#8220;This has got to go,&#8221; and called Democrats&#8217; talk about &#8220;whiteness&#8221; their &#8220;big flaw.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a 2021 interview with ListenMKE, Hong discussed her bi-racial son with chef and now-ex-husband <strong>Matt Morris<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My proximity to whiteness continues, right?&#8221; she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/fox-hosts-crack-up-over-democratic-socialists-proximity-to-whiteness-claim-you-slept-with-the-guy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. &#8220;My son is biracial. He is half white and half Korean, and I think navigating, you know, what his identity is and how people perceive him is always at the back of my mind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hong has received backlash over other comments, including a past call to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/should-thanksgiving-be-canceled-socialist-candidate-cant-give-cnn-a-straight-answer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cancel<\/a> Thanksgiving \u2014 though she now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/francesca-hong-now-claims-thanksgiving-is-her-favorite-holiday-after-calling-to-cancel-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> she &#8220;loves&#8221; the holiday.<\/p>\n<p>Maher went off on Hong during his Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbomax.com\/shows\/real-time-with-bill-maher\/abc00905-6a23-46f6-a531-20214bb06f37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">show<\/a>, propping her up as exactly what he finds wrong-headed about progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Democrats have found a candidate who hates Thanksgiving and wants to get rid of it. Yes, running for governor in Wisconsin, Francesca Hong. Have you heard about this? Yeah, Thanksgiving, she says, should be canceled. I say good. Finally, a politician willing to stand up to big stuffing,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;Wow. Oh, you gotta love the Democrats.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a position, he added, that will leave most people on both sides of the political aisle scratching their heads in confusion. He also called her flip-flop on Thanksgiving empty political speak and complete BS.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe you! I don&#8217;t believe you people who renounce things,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We know what you said, you mean it, live by it. Don&#8217;t f*cking squirrelly out of it!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/bill-maher-tells-dems-they-need-to-accept-whiteness-is-not-a-disease\/\">Bill Maher Tells Dems They Need to Accept \u2018Whiteness\u2019 Is \u2018Not a Disease\u2019<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Screenshot via HBO Bill Maher told Democrats they need to accept that &#8220;whiteness&#8221; is &#8220;not a disease&#8221; during a rant against progressive Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong. On Friday&#8217;s Real Time, Maher targeted Hong in his opening monologue and later returned to the subject of her and other progressive Democrats, calling the Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am13.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bill.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}