I 
make my Advanced Public Speaking students write and give a speech of apology for a public figure, so when we’re talking about comics giving apologies, we’re kind of in my wheelhouse. Maher’s on-air apologies on his show the week after his N-word incident did a number of interesting things.
In a previous post, Bill Maher On What Comics Do, I talked about the discussion of comics and comedy first, as that is my purpose for this blog, in this post I talk about how Maher responded to the issues. This isn’t humor theory, but humor stuff used to justify his actions; Maher used his status as a comic both to remind us why we like him and to separate himself out from the rules of “normal people.” In any case, I need to do a write up for my class in the fall anyway, so since I’m already hip deep into it, I’ll share.
I’ll begin with the style and tone of the interview and the problems that presented for his apology. Then I’ll get into the content: how he framed what he did (a “mistake”) and what he did wrong (said a word), then how he strategically built himself up, and gave us a reason to believe that he’s changed.
Interviewus Interruptus
My first problem with the interview went beyond that Maher used it as an excuse to defend himself – that is kind of a problem, since the segment’s intended purpose was to plug Dr. Dyson’s latest book, Tears We Cannot Stop. However, Dyson still managed to work in some concepts from the book, so perhaps it’s a relevant application of the book.
My problem was that the whole thing had the feel of a “Yes, but…” While we expect Maher to mount some sort of defense, he should also seem sorry or contrite. Instead, Maher was fighting not to interrupt, which makes him seem like he was just waiting to speak, and when he did begin, particularly late in the interview, he started his statements with “Well…”, “Yeah, but…”, “Ok, but…” and “Look…”. These are not the opening statements of someone who agrees with the critique and is sorry.
And Dyson was trying to help him! For instance, Dyson notes that it’s a systemic problem, that it “grows out of a culture” and is unconscious and therefore hard to fight. Dyson then asks Maher, “So do you truly understand the need to name and to challenge that unconscious white privilege that exists and how it hurts black people, even if unintentionally?”
And Maher responds, “Yes, but…”!
C’mon Bill! Just say: “Yes, I think that’s fair,” pause for applause, and then calmly offer your point (without the “but”)!
A Mistake
Beginning his interview with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Bill Maher asks Dyson to “school me. I did a bad thing.” Language is important when looking at apologies, because it frames the discussion by labeling what he did (the classical stasis of definition, or quid sit). Maher starts by labeling it “a bad thing,” which becomes “a bad joke,” and later, multiple times, “a mistake.”
See, like any celebrity, Maher can’t just say, “My bad,” and call it a day – not if he wants to keep his show. He’s got to hedge a bit; he’s got to defend himself and his actions, and by casting it as a mistake, he minimizes the damage he’s caused and also suggests how he should be treated: “to err is human,” and thus we should all be forgiven, himself included.
He also addresses some statements made by Kathy Griffin:
She said ‘Trump broke me’ – No he shouldn’t – and ‘My career is over’ – No, it’s not. You make a mistake, you don’t have to go away. Everyone makes mistakes.
He could have been speaking to himself, and responding to those who say his show should be cancelled.
Sinners?
Perhaps Maher was pandering to Dyson, who is religious, by referring to the idea that “we’re all sinners,” but – Really, Bill? Coming from the guy who made Religulous, this statement is jarring.
Words and culture
Beyond this problem, there were others. Maher seems to know that characterizing the issue as “a mistake” isn’t enough, he needs to do more damage control.
In his apology, he further tried to limit his fault to the (n-)word use, despite Dyson calling him out on bigger issues (the historical context of slavery he referenced, the contemporary context created by racists [A.K.A. “alt-right groups”], cultural insensitivity, and expressions of unconscious white privilege). Maher keeps trying to return to the “n-word” as the source of his problems.
in defending himself against these larger issues, Maher frames them as unintentional, stating that there was no malice in the use of the word; that “I’m a product of my culture.” If he had just said that when prompted by Dyson, or referenced back to what Dyson literally just said, it would look more like a conversation and less like an excuse.
An apology model
Maher is trying to explain himself (what Ware & Linkugel might best call an explanatory posture), so he’s trying to draw a distinction between what happened and where he’s at now, while reminding people of why they like him.
Building himself up
To remind people of why they like him, there are a number of tricks Maher uses, including apologizing, reminding us he’s a comic, and he gets an assist from Dyson on reminding us of the good work he’s done in the past.
Apologizing helps
Maher begins by apologizing for the word: the incident wasn’t frivolous, “Because for black folks – and I don’t care who you are – that word has caused pain, and I’m not here to do that.” Later he says, “Yes, it was wrong, and I own up to that.” This starts out on the right foot, as it builds up his likeability by showing he’s sensitive to the issue – he apologized, and he seems to get it.
He later takes another shot at sensitivity by stating,
But it doesn’t matter that it wasn’t said in malice – it wasn’t – if it brought back pain to people, and that’s why I apologized freely and I reiterate it tonight. And that’s sincere.
Again, here he’s apologizing for using the word, and at the same time reinforcing that it wasn’t mean-spirited [more below].
Remind us he’s a popular comic
Early on, Maher notes that “the comic mind goes to a weird place sometimes.” Here, he subtly reminds us that he’s a comic (that’s why we like him). He later returns to that point when he talks about What Comics Do [but to conserve ether here, I’ll let you follow the link].
Remind us of the good he’s done
Dyson helps Maher out considerably here, saying
The reason I’m here is because you have attacked that [the resurgence of racism]. You’re the one who said, “Denying racism is the new racism.”
He then points out Maher’s history of calling people out on this issue. Dyson’s other statements help Maher as well. He says, “If even Bill Maher can at some level capitulate to a level of unconscious privilege, then the rest of us are in a serious spot.” This elevates Maher to the status of “one of the best.”
Dyson further gives Maher credit for his knowledge when he says,
But look, there are trigger points that even in comedy, lines that you should not cross, … and when it comes to race, you know that. It’s not that I’m introducing a new concept to you, you understand that.
Maher works for himself here too, pointing out that he is “willing to spend political capital for a cause, or a view that I think needs to be out there. This wasn’t that. This was just a mistake. This was just a dumb interception. But again, you know, I’ve been on 24 years.” So he’s working for things he thinks are important, and he’s been doing it for 24 years; good points to inject into the conversation to remind us why we like you.
Separating himself out
To give us other reasons why we should still like him, Maher has to make a distinction between what happened and where he is now. He uses a couple of tricks here as well, including making it about the situation, that it was unconscious and not malicious, that he’s evolving, and that he’s a comic.
The situation
Early on, Maher tells a story of the event to put it into context, beginning with the idea that the Senator “said a weird thing,” and Maher noted that “the comic mind goes to a weird place sometimes.” While this is prefaced with the statement, “It’s not his fault, it’s all on me,” the contextualizing detracts from that. It frames it as a one-time reaction to the content of the Senator’s statement. It becomes a “It’s not his fault, but here’s how and why what he said led to this.” It’s certainly not something Maher would do again.
He later reiterates,
By the way, this happened once, a guy said a weird thing, I made a bad joke. Yes, it was wrong, and I own up to that. But it’s not as if I’ve made a career of this. You know. It’s not like I went out there last Friday and said, “Ooh, I’m going to break some new ground tonight.” You know, it happened, and it was wrong, and people make mistakes, we’re all sinners, and we’ve gotta, yeah. But you know, I totally get that.
Unconscious/Non-malicious
Maher initially claims that he was in the moment, and didn’t think. Later in the show, Ice Cube responded to Maher’s incident, and the Dyson interview. Ice Cube asks “What made you think that it was cool to say that?” Maher responds, “There was no thought put into it… comedians, they react, and it was wrong, and I apologized.”
Maher further argues that he cannot be called out for other things that his words implied, because it was not a conscious decision. Dyson brings up the point discussed in other critiques about the content of the joke: that the problem was that Maher referred to himself as a house slave, as if house slaves had it any better than those in the field – which is insensitive. I’ve gone further, saying that Maher calling himself a slave at all (of any type) is beyond hyperbole, it’s completely unjustifiable and therefore insensitive.
Maher’s response is that, “Well, of course, you must know that all of that was not going on in my mind. Right?” The implication here is that because it wasn’t conscious, it wasn’t malicious, and therefore he wasn’t responsible.
To his credit, Dyson doesn’t let him off the hook here, saying, “People believe that one of the things you did last week was an unconscious reflex, nobody would ascribe to you any malicious intent, but that’s the point, right?” and he goes on to talk about the harms of unconscious white privilege.
As I mentioned, Maher doesn’t immediately accept this point, but he does circle back to it. After another argument and response and yet another “Ok, but…” Maher says,
I’m not here to make excuses [and yet, he keeps making them!], but first of all, the word is omnipresent in the culture, so the fact that it was in my mind is, you know. Also, is there part of what you’re saying true? Absolutely. I’m just a product of the country like everybody else.
He’s evolving
Maher says, “I mean, we’re all evolving. We’re all who we are…. But look, we are all evolving at the pace of day-by-day.” Maher then sketches another story for us: his childhood in New Jersey and how far he’s come. This idea, that we’re all (Maher included) constantly changing and hopefully improving allows us to perceive Maher as already a different person than the one who gave that interview and used that word.
He’s a comic
As I mention in the previous post on this interview, Maher tries to separate out his thinking as a comic from the thinking of normal people; “the comic mind goes to a weird place sometimes.” Later:
Comedians are a special kind of monkey…. We are a trained thing that tries to get a laugh. That’s what we do. That’s all we are always thinking.
Basically, he’s arguing that it was Comic Bill Maher, in the moment, trying to get a laugh that said the thing, and Advocate Bill Maher, the thinker, knows better.
I find it fascinating that Maher uses his status as a comic both to bolster his popularity and to justify his transgression. It’s a fairly common tactic, and it seems to work. This is what we think good comics do, and this is why we like them.
Summary
Maher’s strategy was fairly good – he had good arguments, but he didn’t execute well. He kept interrupting, and this prevented him from seeing the lobs thrown at him that would make some of his arguments easier. Finally, he creates his own problems and confuses people when he argues that he’s both a comic, so he shouldn’t be judged when he crosses lines, and a person spending political capital, so he’s trying to do the right thing.
References:
Aristotle, The Rhetoric
Fisher, W. Narration as human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs 51 (1984): 1-23.
