Bill Maher slams top broadway producer for diversity apology: ‘This is why people hate Democrats’

Bill Maher criticized Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the successful musical “Hamilton,” over an apology he gave for an alleged lack of diversity in his musical “In the Heights.”

“Please, stop apologizing. You’re the guy who made the Founding Fathers Black and Hispanic!” Maher exclaimed during his show. “I don’t think that you have to apologize to Twitter! For f-ck’s sake. This is why people hate Democrats. It’s cringy.”

CNN commentator Paul Begala, who joined Maher’s open panel discussion on the topic, responded by saying the mob “can’t seem to distinguish between an oversight and an outrage,” pointing out the lack of attention given to other issues such as health issues or wealth disparities among Americans.

“Those are outrages and liberals ought to be focused on that, not the casting choices of, I think, a heroic guy who’s making a film about a minority community, ” Begala added. 

“I started writing ‘In the Heights’ because I didn’t feel seen. And over the past 20 years, all I wanted was for us — ALL of us — to feel seen,” Miranda began his apology. “I’m seeing the discussion around Afro-Latino representation in our film this weekend, and it is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latino community don’t feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles.”

“I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback,” he continued. “I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy. In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I’m truly sorry. I’m learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I’m listening. I promise to do better in my future projects.”

New York Times journalist and guest panelist Jane Coaston said that “nothing will have changed” from Miranda’s apology, predicting that “we will do this all again forever.”

“We’ve been mad about things forever because being mad, it’s an irreplaceable resource. We will never stop being mad about things,” Coaston said. “But I think that it’s time to recognize like sometimes when people are mad on the internet, you need to identify who is mad, do they vote, do they have power, do they have the power to vote on things that could change these real lived experiences of communities of color. And if they don’t, you’re just kind of like ‘meh.’”

“Obviously, he felt it was important enough for him to make this apology,” Maher explained. “Do I think he really thinks he needs to apologize? I don’t. He just wants to avoid the news cycle. I don’t blame him, you know. I understand this, but at some point, people are going to have to stand up to these bullies because that’s what it is! It’s bullying. It’s ‘I could make you crawl like a dog, and I enjoy it,’” Maher added.

“I mean, he’s a Latino making a Latino movie with a Latino cast — not good enough! Nothing is ever good enough for these people! They’re like children. We don’t raise our children right, and it’s reflected in the media. No one ever tells their children, ‘Shut the f— up, sit down, listen to your elders, stop b—-ing,’” Maher continued.

Maher’s attack on Miranda’s apology comes after he ripped Biden’s plan for free college earlier this month.

“President Biden’s American Families Plan asks the taxpayers to pony up hundreds of billions so that everyone can go to college, and billions more for subsidized childcare so our kids can go to school while we go to school,” Maher said at the time.

“I know free college is a left-wing thing but is it really liberal for someone who doesn’t go to college and makes less money to pay for people who do go and make more?” Maher asked rhetorically. “Especially since colleges have turned into giant luxury daycare centers with overpaid babysitters anxious to indulge every student whim.”

“Yeah, I’m not f***ing paying for that,” Maher said.