Oh boy, when Bill Maher—the liberal torchbearer of late-night television—starts sounding like a right-wing pundit, you know the left has spun off its axis.
Seriously, Bill Maher?
The same man who’s usually found poking fun at conservatives is now taking a jab at a beloved children’s icon?
Well, strap in folks, because the tables have turned.
For years, conservatives have been on the receiving end of Maher’s pointed monologues and unapologetic critiques.
But here we are, reading his “review” on Barbie, and it’s like he’s channeled the spirit of right-wing Twitter! Calling the film “preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie”?
It’s not every day you see the left eating their own, but then again, as the saying goes: even a broken clock is right twice a day.
His use of the term “Zombie Lie” really drives it home.
According to Maher, it’s “Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it; OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it’s still true.”
Well, isn’t that a nifty definition that could be applied to countless talking points from the left over the years?
The irony isn’t lost on us.
Talk show host Bill Maher goes on a rant about Barbie, calling the film "man-hating" and out of touch: "This movie is so 2000-LATE."https://t.co/vLrHYBV9f3 pic.twitter.com/9AcbxOk3S0
— CBR (@CBR) August 8, 2023
. @briebriejoy agrees with Bill Maher's take on 'Barbie', she and @robbysoave discuss: pic.twitter.com/6hSGB0R30a
— Rising (@RisingTheHill) August 8, 2023
'OUT OF STEP': Bill Maher roasted the 'Barbie' movie, calling it a clear dig at "The Patriarchy." https://t.co/Mg2OV4KFLe pic.twitter.com/ldAHmC41uR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 8, 2023
You’ve got to hand it to him.
Maher’s surprising pivot towards something that sounds eerily conservative only reaffirms that the left has gone so far that even their most vocal champions can’t keep up.
It’s a wild twist, but maybe, just maybe, Maher’s beginning to see the light. Or at the very least, he’s willing to call out his own side when they go too far.
Regardless of his intentions, it’s a refreshing change to see Bill Maher on this side of the aisle, even if it’s just for a brief moment.
Welcome to the party, Bill!
At least for today.
As reported by Deadline:
Bill Maher took to Twitter (or X) on Monday to tell his followers that he had seen Barbie and promised a “review” to follow. On Tuesday, Maher delivered…sort of. His post reads less like a review than one of his biting closing soliloquies on Real Time — which it’s worth noting, airs on HBO, a corporate sibling to the studio behind Barbie, Warner Bros.
While admitting the film is fun, Maher begins by called it “preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie.”
What, you ask, is a “Zombie Lie?”
Maher defines it as, “Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it’s still true.”
There’s an old saying: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
And if the latest Hollywood blockbuster is any evidence, it seems extreme wokism has managed to accomplish something rather unexpected—making strange bedfellows of Bill Maher, Ted Cruz, and Matt Gaetz. I
mean, who could have predicted this unlikely alliance?
The thought of Maher joining forces with staunch conservatives sounds like something straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Yet here we are, and it’s all because the woke brigade might have just jumped the shark.
Maher’s recent critique of the box-office juggernaut, the Barbie movie, echoes sentiments from Republicans like Cruz and Gaetz.
It’s not often that you see this trifecta agree on something.
Maher, with his sharp wit, bemoaned the film’s portrayal of the Mattel board as an all-male “patriarchy” — an outdated depiction that feels “so 2000-LATE.”
A quick Google search, as Maher handily pointed out, proves the actual board is not so monochromatic, being closer to an even gender split.
OK, "Barbie": I was hoping it wouldn't be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three. What is a Zombie Lie? Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be…
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 7, 2023
Bill Maher Pops The Bubble, Destroys ‘Preachy, Man-Hating ‘Barbie’ Blockbusterhttps://t.co/gCpEE70rgS
— EMPIntelligenceNet© (@Megavolts001) August 8, 2023
Bill Maher hoped the film Barbie would not be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie. Yet he found it to be all three.
Here is his review:https://t.co/0PZW2uliqw
— OutKick (@Outkick) August 8, 2023
Wokism, with its often distorted and exaggerated narrative, seems to have gone too far.
So far, in fact, that it’s blurring the traditionally distinct lines between liberal commentators and conservative lawmakers.
And if there’s anything that could unite such disparate voices, it’s the shared sentiment that the pendulum of social consciousness may have swung a little too far in one direction.
Vanity Fair provides more details:
One day after the Barbie movie officially crossed $1 billion at the box office, Bill Maher joined Republican lawmakers across the aisle like Ted Cruz and Matt Gaetz in airing his misgivings about the movie—albeit with different gripes. Rendering his long-awaited verdict on Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster, Maher slammed the film as “so 2000-LATE,” thanks to, among other things, how it depicts the Mattel corporate board as all male.
[…]
In the tweet, Maher recounted how Margot Robbie’s Barbie “fights the Patriarchy,” including “the Mattel board who created her, consisting of 12 white men!” led by Will Ferrell as the film’s cartoonish CEO. But Maher has a bone to pick. The actual Mattel board of directors? Oh, he’s googled it, and found that the body actually contains “7 men and 5 women.” (Well, according to Mattel’s website, the current board consists of five women and six men, one of whom is the CEO of Condé Nast, Vanity Fair’s parent company.) “OK, not perfect even-steven,” Maher continued, “but not the way the board IN THE MOVIE—which takes place in 2023—is portrayed. And not really any longer deserving of the word ‘patriarchy.’”
“Yes, there was one, and remnants of it remain,” Maher helpfully added, “but this movie is so 2000-LATE.”
The irony is hard to miss.
Woke culture, which was supposed to bring unity and understanding, is now creating unlikely alliances because of its extremities.
When you’ve got Maher, Cruz, and Gaetz all singing from the same hymn sheet, it’s a sure sign that maybe, just maybe, the tide is beginning to turn.
After all, if there’s one thing that’s clear from this cinematic kerfuffle, it’s that opposing extreme wokism might just be the unifying cause the country didn’t know it needed.
Go figure!