Petition Targets Planned UC Berkeley Speech by Bill Maher

The selection of TV host Bill Maher to deliver a December commencement address at UC Berkeley has come under fire from people who believe his views on Islam are racist.

More than 2,500 people have signed a petition on Change.org asking that the university withdraw its offer. The petition also suggests people boycott the address, now scheduled for Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. in Haas Pavilion.

“Bill Maher is a blatant bigot and racist who has no respect for the values UC Berkeley students and administration stand for,” the petition states. “In a time where climate is a priority for all on campus, we cannot invite an individual who himself perpetuates a dangerous learning environment.

“Bill Maher’s public statements on various religions and cultures are offensive and his dangerous rhetoric has found its way into our campus communities.”

While Maher has long stated his opposition to organized religion (he made a film in 2008 called Religulous that mocks religion), a conversation he had with actor Ben Affleck on a show on Oct. 3 appears to be the catalyst for the petition. (A clip of that segment is embedded below.)

The two got into a heated discussion about Islam, with Maher declaring that “Islam is the only religion that acts like the mafia that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing,” Maher said.

Affleck strongly disagreed with Maher’s broad-brush description of all Muslims as fanatical.

“How about more than a billion people who aren’t fanatical, who don’t punch women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, pray five times a day, and don’t do any of the things you’re saying of all Muslims,” Affleck said on "Real Time with Bill Maher." “It’s stereotyping. ... Some of them do bad things and you’re painting the whole religion with that broad brush.”

Two politically active UC Berkeley students started the petition, although it has been signed by graduates and people with no connection to Cal. The two students are ASUC Senator Marium Navid and Khwaja Ahmed. Both are active in the Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Coalition, or MEMSA, according to the Daily Cal. They started the petition Oct 23 and have captured national attention.

“It’s not an issue of freedom of speech, it’s a matter of campus climate,” Navid told the Daily Cal. “The First Amendment gives him the right to speak his mind, but it doesn’t give him the right to speak at such an elevated platform as the commencement. That’s a privilege his racist and bigoted remarks don’t give him.”

Maher, who is active on Twitter, has not commented on the controversy.

Get the latest Berkeley news in your inbox with Berkeleyside’s free Daily Briefing. And make sure to bookmark Berkeleyside’s pages on Facebook and Twitter. You don’t need an account on those sites to view important information.