Bill Maher Speaks At Berkeley Despite Some Protesters
Bill Maher went through with giving the commencement speech at UC Berkeley after there was a campaign to cancel his appearance. Last October, Maher was accused of racism by “Real Time” guest Ben Affleck because of his comments on the beliefs of Islam including oppressing women and gays and the followers being put to death if they decide to leave the religion. The backlash included a 6,000 signature petition calling for Cal-Berkeley to rescind their invitation to speak.
The university didn’t cancel Maher’s Saturday appearance and according to Silicon Valley.com, during his speech, Maher said, “C’mon, it’s Berkeley. I think I can speak freely here. I mean, I hope I can.”
By the time of the commencement, there were only a handful of protesters demonstrating against Maher’s appearance. A group of them stood up during his speech and held up signs reading, “Dear (administrators), don’t Maher our commencement.” They were quickly met with a larger group of demonstrators protesting the use of annoying puns.
