Bill Maher On Police Beatings: “This Is Why NFL Players Want To Take A Knee”
UPDATE, with video A recent crop of viral video police beatings has Bill Maher thinking the thin blue line needs a #MeToo movement to call its own. The host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher ended tonight’s episode calling out abusive cops – and the partners who protect them.
“We need to stop saying most cops are good like we know that to be true,” Maher said during his end-of-show New Rules segment. “I hope it’s true, but I need some evidence, unlike cops.”
He continued: “The bad ones, not the good ones. Problem is we don’t really know what that percentage is. That’s the question I’m asking tonight – if so many cops are good why are there so many videos of them being bad?”
The host, saying “this thin blue line stuff has got to go away,” was referring to several viral videos from the past month of graphic police beat-downs – including the disturbing footage of an officer repeatedly punching a 20-year-old woman in the head on a New Jersey beach. “We need a #MeToo movement for the police,” Maher said. “If Garrison Keillor has to go away for putting his hand on a woman’s back, perhaps we should decide what should happen when two men pin a woman down in the sand and punch her in the face.”
In addition to the beach incident, Maher cited two videos of Oregon and Arizona police beatings. “That’s a lot of videos of guys who barely exist doing shit that hardly ever happens. Not to mention the Milwaukee Buck’s Sterling Brown getting tased for a crime white people can’t even imagine: existing while black.”
Said Maher, “This is why NFL players want to take a knee – not because they hate the Anthem.”
Acknowledging the rigors and dangers of police work, the Real Time host had some advice, ready or not. “If you expect nice, don’t be a cop,” he said. “Be a Mountie. Police work is like proctology, assholes come with the job. It doesn’t give you the right to abuse people – you’re a cop, not a flight attendant.”
Check out the New Rules segment above, and here are a couple tweets Real Time posted…
“When cops ask minorities why they don’t snitch on their own, minorities have every right to say, ‘You first.’” – @BillMaher #RealTime #BlueToo pic.twitter.com/O7TdUowkGL
— Real Time (@RealTimers) June 16, 2018
We need a #MeToo movement for the police. If Garrison Keillor has to go away for putting his hand on a woman’s back, perhaps we should decide what should happen when two men pin a woman down in the sand and punch her in the face.” – @BillMaher #RealTime #BlueToo pic.twitter.com/FB5tVBCWag
— Real Time (@RealTimers) June 16, 2018
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