Bill Maher’s Controversial Tebow Tweet Sparks HBO Boycott Calls

Comedian Bill Maher has done what he does best, stirring up controversy with his outspoken point-of-view.

Social media has afforded the HBO star a new platform for his rather wicked sense of humor. If you recall, Maher wasn’t always a feature on the premium cable channel, and spent many years hosting a similar panel-based show on HBO called Politically Incorrect. The scathing comic enjoyed a lengthy late-night run on ABC, until he made some controversial post-9/11 remarks about whether the terrorists that downed the World Trade Center could rightfully be called cowards.

The comments provoked much hand-wringing, and Maher was fired from his ABC gig amid creepy threats from the White House’s at-the-time Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who reminded “all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do” in the post-attack panic.* Maher quickly rebounded, landing the HBO gig, and has been offending sensibilities far more efficiently since the move.

The comedian is also a vocal apatheist, espousing the position not only that religion is pointless, but further maintaining it is a force of chaos and terror in the world. He created a documentary- Religulous- skewering all major religions without prejudice. So it’s no surprise that the “Christ-y” (as Maher would say) Tim Tebow has come in for criticism from the controversial comic.

Maher made the comments Christmas Eve on his Twitter account, after the Denver Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills. He tweeted:

Wow, Jesus just f*cked #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler “Hey, Buffalo’s killing them”

It was a mouthful even for Maher, but boycott calls seem a bit much given it’s not an entirely out of the ordinary for a man who traveled all over the world to make a documentary about how pointless and dangerous he feels religion is. It should also be noted that Maher’s tweet isn’t even skewering God or religion, but rather the vanity of those who might believe that God has nothing better to do than meddle in a football game.

*[Beyond the grave Hitchslap. As Christopher Hitchens wrote in Slate years ago, the remarks of Fleischer were widely misconstrued, and I apologize for the error in repeating them. You can read more in Hitchens’ column.]

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