HBO Real Time host Bill Maher continued to show self-awareness on his Friday program as he lampooned private-jet flying environmentalists from John Kerry to himself, conceding “it’s like heroin.”
Maher was struggling with the tension of being an environmentalist while skewering all the silly things people do in the name of environmental protection, such as drinking out of paper straws. Modern conveniences are simply too convenient, “And we all must be aware by now that what buying everything from Amazon does to the environment. But do we stopped? No, the verdict is in, humans are not good people.”
In the spirit of the new year, Maher admitted, “It's-- It's just not in us, including me, and I'm tired of living a-- well, not a lie, but it's also something I never mentioned, but it's a new year and I'd like to come clean. My name is Bill. And I fly private.”
Maher then noted that he is hardly alone, “And so does every other person who calls themselves an ‘environmentalist’ who can. Now enjoy this fun photo collage of some of your favorite stars, politicians who speak about the need to reduce our carbon footprint but who are always on private planes. That's right, all of them. If you don't see a celebrity's picture here, it's because we weren't allowed to use it. Or their series got canceled.”
Calling out their hypocrisy, Maher declared “all the environmentalists of Hollywood and Washington do it. Their position on climate change is ‘we must do more to stop pouring carbon into the air, except for me when I want to go somewhere and then I take a private jet.’”
On flying private, Maher noted:
It turns out there is one thing in this world that is completely impossible to resist. And this is it. It's like heroin. If you-- If you do it once you'll never stop. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who fly private and those who would if they could. A third category, those who could but do not, does not exist. Except for Ed Begley and Greta Thunberg. And that's why you never see a picture of her smiling. Ed and Greta. That's who walks the walk.
When it comes to excuses, Maher explained himself, “How do you think I did it all those years? I said good night here at 8 P.M. and was on stage in Vegas at 10. But I don't need to do stand up like tomorrow night in Albuquerque. And outside of heads of state, almost everyone else could fly commercial. Why don't they? Ask anyone who tried to get home for Christmas last year.”
As for young people, against a picture of the Kardashian-Jenner family, Maher added “don't tell me the younger generation is better. They're not. They're just poorer. They're actually worse. This is who they look up to The family where everyone has their own private jet.”
Moving on to John Kerry, Maher reached for an analogy, “No one can resist it. John Kerry is our climate czar, and he uses a private jet. It's like if the secretary of Homeland Security smuggled drugs in his butt.”
If Maher can be a liberal and still see the jokes in liberalism, than why can’t the other late night talk show hosts?
Here is a transcript for the January 27 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
1/27/2023
10:52 PM ET
BILL MAHER: And we all must be aware by now that what buying everything from
Amazon does to the environment. But do we stopped? No, the verdict is in, humans are not good people. It's-- It's just not in us, including me, and I'm tired of living a-- well, not a lie, but it's also something I never mentioned, but it's a new year and I'd like to come clean. My name is Bill. And I fly private.And so does every other person who calls themselves an “environmentalist” who can. Now enjoy this fun photo collage of some of your favorite stars, politicians who speak about the need to reduce our carbon footprint but who are always on private planes. That's right, all of them.
If you don't see a celebrity's picture here, it's because we weren't allowed to use it. Or their series got canceled. But all the environmentalists of Hollywood and Washington do it. Their position on climate change is “we must do more to stop pouring carbon into the air, except for me when I want to go somewhere and then I take a private jet.”
It turns out there is one thing in this world that is completely impossible to resist. And this is it. It's like heroin. If you-- If you do it once you'll never stop. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who fly private and those who would if they could. A third category, those who could but do not, does not exist. Except for Ed Begley and Greta Thunberg. And that's why you never see a picture of her smiling. Ed and Greta. That's who walks the walk .
Everyone else is full of shit and I'm done being full of shit. I can take being a bad environmentalists because almost all of us are but I can't take being a hypocrite. Now I always justified renting a plane because I only used it for work and literally could not get to most of my stand up gigs on time any other way. How do you think I did it all those years? I said good night here at 8 P.M. and was on stage in Vegas at 10. But I don't need to do stand up like tomorrow night in Albuquerque.
And outside of heads of state, almost everyone else could fly commercial. Why don't they? Ask anyone who tried to get home for Christmas last year. And don't tell me the younger generation is better. They're not. They're just poorer. They're actually worse. This is who they look up to. The family where everyone has their own private jet and kids love Bitcoin, which to determine the value of takes an amount of computer processes-- processing that uses more electricity than some whole countries. Kids could have rejected that. But they didn't, they love it. Why? Because they want to be rich. Why? So they can fly private. No one can resist it. John Kerry is our climate czar, and he uses a private jet. It's like if the secretary of Homeland Security smuggled drugs in his butt.
