Bill Maher has always been outspoken on his HBO show Real Time With Bill Maher, and sometimes, his opinions get him into a lot of trouble. Over the course of the last few weeks, Maher has been talking a lot about “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing,” which is considered to be the “Black National Anthem.” The song is being played before NFL games now, and Maher has mixed feelings about the implications of this.
On previous shows, Maher said he couldn’t care less if “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” were to replace the original anthem, although he believes only one of them should be played. As he explains, playing both is a slippery slope that leads to the kind of segregation we saw decades ago.
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Last night, Maher did a whole segment on this issue during his “New Rules” segment. Throughout the monologue, Maher likened this to re-education which happened under Chairman Mao in China. He also referenced the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, and even Barack Obama, who once said “There is not a Black America, and a white America, and Latino America, an Asian American, there’s a United States of America.” Needless to say, Maher feels very strongly about the topic, and he thinks it could lead to some damaging results in the future.
For many, the Black National Anthem hasn’t really affected the NFL viewing experience, and it’s unlikely that it ever will. Regardless, it’s certainly a topic that has people feeling a multitude of ways.