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One Directioners Go After Bill Maher for Making Zayn Malik Terrorist Joke

Comedian compares singer to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is yet to do as bid and apologize

Apr 6, 2015 10:49 GMT  ·  By
Bill Maher is being harshly criticized for Zayn Malik terrorist joke
   Bill Maher is being harshly criticized for Zayn Malik terrorist joke

Bill Maher believes that a healthy sense of humor means the ability to laugh even at the most offensive jokes, which is why he never apologizes whenever he’s accused of crossing the line. He did that again over the weekend, by comparing former One Direction member Zayn Malik to the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The fans are outraged: they want Maher to apologize immediately and to issue some kind of retraction. They’re pressuring him to do it on Twitter, but also via petitions on Change.org, but nothing seems to have worked so far.

Zayn Malik isn’t a terrorist

You can see the video that sparked this kind of outrage embedded below, right above a sample of the most recent tweets on the topic (as of the moment of writing).

Maher opened by joking about Malik’s departure from the band after 5 years, mocking the fans who had had many a sleepless night over it: Zayn owed him to tell him “face to face” that he would be leaving his mates from One Direction.

“Just tell me two things, Zayn,” the comedian continued. “Which one in the band were you? And where were you during the Boston Marathon?” When he said this, Zayn’s photo was shown next to that of Tsarnaev.

Obviously, the fans didn’t mind the fact that Maher turned Zayn’s departure into a joke material, since it’s been done already by most comedians on the late and not so late circuit. However, comparing him to a terrorist just because they happen to have the same religion borders on hatred and discrimination, and this is why they’re now speaking out.

Most tweets about this are grouped under #RespectForZayn, with many angry fans urging Maher to do the right thing for once and apologize.

There’s also a Change.org petition trying to fulfill the same purpose: so far, it’s gotten over 2,600 signatures, but has received no response from the comedian. The tweets from the fans have also fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes, it seems.

Bill Maher was out of line

It’s not just the fans who are making a case against Maher for the joke. Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations tells People Magazine that he should issue an apology for it.

“It shows that he's really not missing an opportunity to engage in his Islamaphobic themes,” Hooper says. “He serves to legitimize Islamaphobia in the left which is one of the unfortunate byproducts of his intolerance of Islam and Muslims.”

The fact that Maher has his own TV show and can thus spread this kind of negativity from a bigger platform is even worse.

Again, Bill Maher seems to have tuned all this outrage out, because he’s not saying anything about it just yet.

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