Bill Maher weighed in on Mozillagate during Real Time with Bill Maher last night, confirming to America what we’ve known all along.
“There is a gay mafia. I think if you cross them, you do get whacked,” he said, ushering in tons of LOLz from the studio audience and guests, including former GOP Rep. Thomas Davis and political analyst Carrie Sheffield.
The gay mafia has come into the spotlight recently after Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich stepped down earlier this week. It was made known that he pumped funds into anti-gay causes, including an organization that aimed to pass California’s Prop 8, and was more or less pressured to resign after a week of heavy coverage.
The announcement stirred mixed reactions — among them, LGBT supporters that claim Eich’s First Amendment rights were infringed upon. What do you think?
How about we take this to the next level?
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http://youtu.be/PC0sDnVtoLE
Billy Budd
This is not a legal matter. He has the right to donate his money to immoral causes. But it may be against the policies of the company to have an immoral CEO. I am totally FOR firing him. There should be no place for immoral people in positions of power.
Black Pegasus
I love Bill Maher. Coolest white man on the planet.
macmantoo
He has his right to his first amendment and I have my right to chose who or what I want to spend my money on. I choose not to spend my money on people or things that do not support my rights as a gay man. And I will convince my family and my friends to do the same as me. Rights works both ways. Choose carefully.
GlitterKidder
Finally they might be getting the message! We are everywhere & we’ve found our voice! Are you paying attention BIGOTS? Shove your first amendment rights up your ass, this is about discrimination pure and simple, NOT freedom of speech!
grayzip
There’s a gay mafia in Silicon Valley? Maher offers no proof of course. But none is needed when confirming a comforting bias. Here’s what I see: Irrelevant dinosaurs like Maher used to freeze out gays for no reason, because they felt like it and could. Now that is no longer tenable so suddenly they manufacture a reason: they want to like us but we’re so uppity. Which means they can conveniently can go from not caring much for us to not caring much for us. Progress?
Maher isn’t even smart for a pothead
hotboyvb81
people have a right to say that they won’t support a business that has an anti gay person leading it- just like he has a right to donate money to anti gay causes- but when you do give money, don’t be suprised that it pisses people off!
Kieran
Nothing wrong with a little healthy fear underlining a powerful, influential gay community flexing its political muscle in America. However, Maher’s using the word “Mafia” to describe gay influence is definitely flippant. Would he refer to the “Jewish mafia” who whack those who cross them?
Blackceo
@Black Pegasus:
Totally agree. I love him and love his commentary. You don’t find many white guys period, let alone straight, rich white guys who seem to GET IT when it comes to inequality and social justice, particularly when it comes to race. If I was to ever be down with the swirl for a relationship, the guy would have to have Bill Maher’s line of political thinking.
Ben Dover
Bill Maher is notoriously anti-marriage, in general – for heterosexuals! – and makes fun of marriage all the time. Simple-minded people, who are used to thinking of marriage as the saccharine repository of all that is virtuous in life, may misunderstand his remark.
Ryan26pdx
Eich could have apologized for the donation if his views had evolved, or he could have just owned the decision and not stepped down. The fact that he threw in the towel after just two weeks on the job suggests that he wasn’t cut out to be C.E.O. in the first place.
Desert Boy
Bill Maher is an asshole. Remember, Andrew Sullivan, is a member of Maher’s regular panel posse. Of course he’s going to stand up for him. It’s also important to remember that Bill Maher used to shtup vicious homophobe, Annthrax Coulter.
Ben Dover
@Desert Boy: Maher had Bill Kristol as a guest recently, so I suppose you think that means Maher also wants to invade Iran? No, they argued the whole time.
Maher hardly ever AGREES with Andrew Sullivan, that’s why he’s on the panel so much (duh!). Same with Coulter, and they never had sex, don’t believe every rumor you hear.
mawbinatl
@Desert Boy: I think Bill Maher’s comment was tongue-in-cheek at best. He is a comedian after all and I detected no malice in his statement whatsoever or support for Ann Coulter or Andrew Sullivan.
Chillax.
Cam
This is now the SECOND post Queerty has done trying to suggest that this guy’s rights were somehow infringed upon and he is a victim.
Again, I get that Queerty’s knee jerk reaction is ALWAYS to defend anti-gay Mormon bigots.
But AGAIN,
1. The first amendment protects you from being ARRESTED for expressing your opinion, it does not protect you from other people not liking your opinion and not wanting to do business with you.
2. By “His first amendment rights” Queerty also seems to be referring to the fact that he spent money trying to attack gays civil rights.
3. Interesting that HE is the victim and not the gays whose lives he was trying to ruin. Apparently he has the right to do whatever he wants, but gay people do not have the right to take their money elsewhere.
Get your priorities straight Queerty, your constant attempts to deflect and paint any Mormon as a victim is a complete sell out to civil rights.
If this guy had spent money trying to take the right to vote away from Blacks, or the right to work away from women would Queerty have been defending him? If the answer is no, then that would indicate that Queerty thinks gay rights are not as worthy as other rights.
Desert Boy
@Ben Dover: – A Bill Maher fanboy. As for whether Maher nailed Coulter or not, how the hell would you know? Oh yeah, you’re a Bill Maher fanboy so it’s your job to defend him.
Desert Boy
@mawbinatl: Unless you’re under 14, using “chillax” just makes you look silly.
Ben Dover
@Desert Boy: Since both of them deny it, how the hell do YOU know they had sex? Were you there?
Well I won’t object to being called a Bill Maher “fanboy” since it’s a great thing to be! Now go smoke a joint and calm down.
NiceNCool1
@Cam: I agree with you.
Ben Dover
@Desert Boy: You seem genuinely unfamiliar with the show. Maybe you’ve never even seen it? There are always 3 guests on the panel and almost always, one or 2 of them are right-wingers whom Bill Maher doesn’t agree with AT ALL. A spirited argument ensues and… duh, that’s the whole point. Maher is good at refuting their stupid contentions, and some are more fun for him to mess with than others.
So the fact that any individual talking head is a “frequent” guest indicates nothing by itself, and definitely doesn’t mean he agrees with them.
hephaestion
I recall seeing Maher crack an anti-gay joke at Olsson’s Bookstore in Dupont Circle about 12 or 13 years ago. So clearly there is no Gay Mafia, because he made an anti-gay joke to a mostly gay audience and nobody did anything to hurt him for that.
Fortunately I believe he has evolved significantly since then.
tomron
@macmantoo: I couldn’t agree more. AND, although I adore Bill Maher, I resent his use of the term “gay mafia”. Standing up for what we believe as a group of like minded people does not in any way constitute a “gay mafia”!
Stache99
@tomron: The gay mafia joke has been around for a long time. It’s a joke and not anything he takes serious.
jwrappaport
Good effing grief. Stop talking about the First Amendment. I don’t understand why this is complicated for people: it doesn’t apply against private parties, just the government. There is no serious controversy as to whether anyone’s First Amendment rights were violated. They were not. Now can we please hire legally literate editors?
inbama
Now that we’re seeing the outcome, maybe a more nuanced view is in order?
Of course we have a right to boycott and not enrich our enemies.
Unfortunately, after every one and his brother has weighed in, and the offender is forced out, every gay leader and writer gets hit with First Amendment questions while our enemies get to act like victims.
So in the end, does it help or hurt the movement?
keepcalm
@Black Pegasus: Yeah, misogyny is so cool.
Doughosier
I love Bill Maher and he’s a friend to us gays. He’s a very smart guy and he has Dan Savage on frequently as well.
SpaceInvader
Damn right there is a GAY mafia and EVERYONE needs to afraid. VERY afraid !!!! Especially those stoopid,knuckle dragging, male breeders that don’t like gay people(they’re everywhere,unfortunately). So ladies,when your man starts talking about getting it in the ass,you now KNOW why)! Cause we’re gonna gang bang their tight virginal asses ,video it and throw ALL of the vids up on the www /internet !!!! And we’ll see how they like being used and objectified ….
Ajai
Ever since he lost his ABC show he has fancied himself as some sort of Salman Rushdie, or first amendment hero. Never mind that nobody has a constitutional right to have a TV show. He’s straining for relevance with these comments, but he just comes across as another straight guy who just doesn’t get it.
Ben Dover
@Ajai: The Bush administration coerced ABC into firing him, so yeah, he kind of IS a First Amendment hero!
inbama
So we should act like those SOB conservatives who took a comment out of context to get a dissenting voice off television?
The longer this goes on, the more obvious it is that gay media – including Queerty – did us no favor by making this one jerk at Firefox a reason to boycott the company.
You certainly didn’t see HRC, Gay & Lesbian Alliance or ANY reputable LGBT organization get on this ridiculous bandwagon.
It’ a distraction from our legitimate goals and got nothing but bad press.
Matt G
this concept of a “gay mafia” is an old one and used to be more about how you couldn’t really be successful in hollywood unless the gay mafia liked you. Still is the case somewhat. Bill is totally right and I took it as a positive statement that we have the kind of organization and drive that the religious right has/used to have. The only thing is not all of these people are LGBT identified- we have many heterosexual allies that are absolute pit bulls for our cause (and THANKS to all of you)
I think all Bill is doing is pointing out (albeit awkwardly) that the second wave of queer lib has reached critical mass and making discriminatory statements or donations have major social repercussions whereas even 5 years or so ago one could get away with it
sportyguy1983
There is a “mafia” for all groups who advocate (sometimes to extremes). People still keep referring to this as a freedom of speech issue. The first amendment does not at all apply here. The first amendment applies to the GOVERNMENT, not private entities. The government can not restrain out speech (with a few exception). Private people can do all they can to get a business to change it’s hiring or actions so long as the change is not based on a protected class.
LibertyGuy
Bill, Bill, Bill….
I really like you – I DVR your show every week – but you got this wrong!
Eich is being held accountable for his action. He donated money in support of legislation that would bar US citizens from having rights enjoyed by other US citizens. The citizens being barred from those rights chose to boycott the business that Eich was leading. That is the way it works.
The straight white guy is upset and blames gay mafia – nope.
Just an organized minority that is using their collective voice to initiate change. Straight white guys have been getting hit left and right for some time now and because of that the deck is not as stacked in their favor anymore. It never will be again. Will they keep getting cranky as the playing field is leveled?
Yup
& I celebrate it
showertile
@inbama: Thank you. This whole issue was blown entirely out of proportion. It makes us look like sad, paranoid, militant thugs. Many folks are happy to see Eich step down, but the truth is, “we” lost this battle the moment “we” started it.
showertile
@LibertyGuy: There’s no level playing field. If we dug that far into everyone’s past every time they got a new jobs, no one would be employed. Are you going to begin the charge to make sure every person who donated to Prop 8 loses their job? How does that help?
tricky ricky
his first amendment rights were not squashed lgbt advocates. what he did was no different than donating money to the klan. maher and anyone who thinks he had his rights trampled on would do well to remember that he was trying to deny people civil rights with his donation!
DK
@showertile: Yeah, it’s guys with internalized homophobia like you who spend the entirety of your lives trying to curry favor with people like Eich who donate to anti-gay hate campaigns call you and other gays pedophiles and worse who are really “winning” the battle for rights.
Please. One monkey does not stop a show. Brandon Eich is a blip — gays are not losing anything. By this time next year, gay marriage will have come to more states and gay rights will have more public support. Hysterical histrionic house gays wit Stockhold Syndrome like you — who tell lies like “we” started it when it was straight people in his own company who did — are the ones who harm the gay community with your homophobic negativity.
Gays should ignore this bait-and-switch and keep right on rolling.