Don Lemon recently appeared on Bill Maher‘s “Club Random” podcast and got into a debate with the host after claiming that a “huge faction of the MAGA movement” is “really fucking racist.” Maher disagreed by saying: “I wouldn’t say huge. No.” The topic came up when the duo discussed the backlash that ignited over Tom Hanks’ “Black Jeopardy” sketch during the “SNL50” event last month.
Hanks popped up in the sketch as Donald Trump supporter Doug, a character he first played on “SNL” eight years ago. Sporting a red MAGA hat, Doug freaks out when Kenan Thompson’s “Black Jeopardy” host goes to shake his hand. The sketch led to Republican backlash on social media, with many accusing “SNL” of making all Trump supporters out to be racists.
“I get all the bad things about the [Trump] administration, but if you think they don’t shake Black people’s hands, it’s just, you’re wrong,” Maher said in response to the sketch. “It’s just not helpful to think that half the country, that’s where they are.”
“Part of it is comedy,” replied Lemon, but “I would say huge [numbers of MAGA supporters] are [racist]. Even if they’re not, you have to overlook a lot of that in order to support Donald Trump, which I think is maybe even more egregious than just saying, ‘I’m a racist.’”
Maher admitted that Trump himself has displayed racist behavior in the past, from his attacks on the Central Park Five to questioning Barack Obama’s birth certificate, but the host maintained that “ascribing his worst traits to all” his supporters is an unfair tactic considering that’s “at least half the country” based on election results.
“I don’t think half the country is racist,” Lemon responded, “and I don’t think all of MAGA is racist. But I do think that there’s a huge element in the MAGA party that is racist—whether they are, whether they are conscious of it or not… Some of them are not. And if they are not, they have had to overlook a lot of racism and a lot of bigotry. And if you do that and you say, ‘I’m ok with this,’ that I think that makes you worse than someone who just says, ‘Hey, I’m a racist.’”
After Hanks’ “SNL50” sketch aired, even some Democrats took issue with how it portrayed MAGA supporters. “The View” co-host Joy Behar, for instance, said she understood the backlash because “they’re making anyone who voted for Trump look like a racist, and that’s why they’re mad. I personally would never do that, because I don’t believe that any group is one thing.”
“A lot of these people [who voted for Trump], in my opinion, have been misled,” Behar continued. “They thought that grocery prices would come down. They’re up. They thought inflation was coming down. It’s up. They thought that Medicaid was safe. It’s not. They thought Social Security was safe. It’s not. So it’s not only racism that caused Trump to be in office. We have to remember that. So of course they’re going to be insulted.”
Watch Lemon’s full appearance on the “Club Random” podcast in the video below.
