‘Not progressive enough’? Bill Maher defending MSNBC dinosaur Chris Matthews as ‘cancel culture victim’ triggers fellow liberals

Bill Maher has triggered the left by defending former MSNBC host Chris Matthews after sexual misconduct allegations, calling ‘cancel culture’ a “cancer on progressivism.”

“MSNBC used to run this thing: this is who we are. Well, I didn’t like who you were this week, and I don’t think a lot of people who work there liked this either, and I think this ‘cancel culture’ is a cancer on progressivism,” Maher said on his ‘Real Time’ program on Friday night when addressing Matthews leaving his long-standing post at MSNBC.

The HBO host said cancel culture is destroying the left because liberals are fighting a “two-front war” while “Republicans only have to fight Democrats.” 

Matthews’ resignation followed a GQ essay in which Laura Bassett accused Matthews of making inappropriate comments to her when she was a guest on his show. 

“Make sure you wipe this [makeup] off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this,” Bassett claims Matthews said to her in a makeup room before a taping.

Matthews was labeled a sexist for that comment and others made to Bassett. The ‘Hardball’ host admitted to making inappropriate comments in the past during his final appearance.

Maher chalked the comments up as “creepy,” but mocked Bassett being labeled a victim. Jokingly comparing her to Rosa Parks, the liberal talk show host wondered whether Bassett is a “compliment victim or a compliment survivor.” 

Matthews’ resignation also follows recent extreme comments on the Democratic primary race. He even compared Bernie Sanders winning the Nevada caucus to the rise of Nazi Germany, a comment Maher waved off because “he apologized for that.”

“I hope the victims got some closure,” Maher said of the comment and apology. 

Maher’s Matthews defense has found some of his usually-friendly liberal base turning on him.

“I find no comedy in cruelty,” Rolling Stone writer Jamil Smith tweeted.

“There is no good reason [why] Bill Maher is still on the air,” author David Rothkopf reacted.

Bassett herself responded to Maher on Twitter, telling the host, “F**k you.”

Conservatives have meanwhile found more humor in the outrage at Maher than in Maher’s comments themselves.

“The left turning on Bill Maher...who saw that coming? Everyone,” journalist Christian Toto tweeted.

While a member of the mainstream left defending someone accused of sexual misconduct in the post #MeToo era may surprise some, Maher is not the only prominent liberal to stand up for Matthews. Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’, called the Hardball host’s resignation a “disturbing” win for “cancel culture.”

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