Bill Maher's remarks about 'pedophiles in Hollywood' go viral

Comedian Bill Maher's “Kid 'N Prey” segment went viral on social media on Friday after criticizing the children's entertainment industry.

On Friday's episode of In Real Time with Bill MaherMaher reacted to the recently released documentary Quiet on set: The dark side of children's televisionwhich exposed the sexual abuse and hostile work environment child actors faced from adults at Nickelodeon.

The comedian posted the segment from his show on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday night with the caption: “Turns out for pedophiles in Hollywood, it's a small world after all.” It garnered 28.3 million views as of Saturday afternoon. .

Maher said he was “disgusted” by the documentary's revelations, adding that “it not only exposed an unsafe workplace. It also exposed hypocrisy.”

He said that when Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis “said the exact same thing about kids and scary stuff at Disney — that liberals now find intolerable at Nickelodeon — he was called a redneck and a bigot, but why is a children's content factory like Disney so different from Nickelodeon? »

During a legal feud with Disney that began when Bob Chapek, then the company's CEO, publicly opposed a controversial bill that restricts certain teachings about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida schools, known as the “Don't Say Gay” law, DeSantis accused Disney of adding a lot of “sexuality into programming aimed at young children,” which the company denied. The dispute was settled in March.

Maher referenced a 2014 CNN article that reported that at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested for child sex crimes since 2006, according to court records and other documents.

The comedian also mentioned Disney child stars Alyson Stoner, who said in a 2021 interview People in a magazine opinion piece that she “narrowly survived the pipeline from toddler to train wreck”, and Cole Sprouse, who said The New York Times in 2022, Disney Channel's young actresses were “highly sexualized.”

“DeSantis wasn't wrong, but we're so tribal now that the left will neglect the fucking kids, if the guy from the wrong party calls him out on it,” Maher said on his show.

News week contacted Disney via email for comment.

Maher then launched into a broader discussion about social issues in America, particularly gender identity.

“Wokeness is no longer an extension of liberalism. It's more often than not about going so far that it becomes the opposite,” the comedian said. “At some point, inclusion becomes promotion. And contrary to today's progressive dogma, children are not miniature adults, wise beyond their years, their jerks.”

He continued: “They're gullible assholes who believe anything and just want to please adults and they have no frame of reference. So they normalize everything that happens. That's why the endless talk about gender to six year olds is not a good thing. It's not just inappropriate, it's what the law would call entrapment.

News week also contacted Maher's publicist via email for comment.

Meanwhile, billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, among other companies, responded to Maher's post, writing: “Wow, Bill Maher hits the nail on the head.”

“One of the most powerful monologues we've seen. Watch the liberal media and progressives attack Bill Maher for daring to say it out loud,” Riley Gaines, a former competitive swimmer who has openly criticized trans women in women's sport. , wrote.

X user Liz Churchill, a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist with 416,100 followers, wrote: “I never thought I'd hear Bill Maher say Hollywood is full of pedophiles. Has Bill Maher become a conspiracy theorist? “

“Remember when we kept telling you that Hollywood and Disney were full of satanic elites who molested children. Well, we were right (again). Here comes Bill Maher with 8 minutes of receipts” , wrote user X with 294,100 followers who goes by the name Concerned Citizen.

Nickelodeon responded to the allegations Calm on set in a previous statement to News week.

“While we cannot corroborate or deny allegations of conduct from productions decades ago, it is Nickelodeon's policy to investigate all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and healthy work environment. professional, free from harassment or other types of inappropriate conduct.

“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests of not only our employees, cast and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted many protective measures over the years to ensuring that we meet our own high standards and the expectations of our audiences.”