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Bill Maher lambasts silly ‘Oscars So White’ campaign: Hollywood’s not a ‘secret cabal’ of racists

March 16, 2026 | | Print Article

Bill Maher unloaded on the ridiculous diversity campaign that has further contributed to wrecking the Academy Awards, which for decades was a must-watch event but has now been reduced to “woke” virtue-signaling slop.

On Friday’s edition of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the comic and social critic weighed in on the 10th anniversary of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, expressing his take that it’s time for leftists to move on and that Hollywood “isn’t a secret cabal of racists.”

Maher’s rant came during the “New Rules” segment of his popular HBO show, which aired two days before the beautiful people gathered at the Dolby Theatre for the 98th edition of the annual ceremony, an orgy of self-congratulation oozing with sanctimony served up by rich hypocrites.

“As this Sunday’s Academy Awards show is the 10th anniversary of the Oscars So White campaign, someone must wear a ribbon that says, ‘we won,’ just as a way to remind progressives, hey, you’re progressive, progress is what you’re selling,” he began.

“Take the win. The Oscars are no longer a long, boring show full of white people. It’s a long, boring show full of all people,” Maher said, going on to run down the diverse list of recent winners in major categories

“Eight of the last ten best director prizes have been won by underrepresented groups, not to mention 60 percent of the honorary awards. You can’t argue with a straight face, or even a gay face, that the Academy in 2026 still overlooks minority achievement, or that Hollywood is biased in favor of all white people,” he continued, “But come on, man, can we live in the present?”

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“Hollywood isn’t a secret cabal of racists. It’s a secret cabal of people terrified of looking like racists,” he declared. “And I’m just tired of, no matter how much progress is made, social justice warriors feeling the need to gaslight us as if none of it had happened.”

“A couple of years ago, the Academy established a very complex rule book that said you couldn’t even be considered for Best Picture unless you met certain criteria, like 30 percent of the crew or two department heads had to be from underrepresented groups, and a main storyline had to be as well. Well, there goes my idea about a polka band in a ski town,” Maher joked.

“I mean, please don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying you can’t hire who you want or make a movie about whatever you want. OK, that’s exactly what we’re saying,” the old school liberal added, a rebuke of the Academy’s forced diversity rules.

Maher’s point was later driven home when this year’s Best Actor award went to Michael B. Jordan for his role in “Sinners,” which critics have bashed as a culturally appropriated ripoff of the 1996 vampire flick “From Dusk Till Dawn” starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino.

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Jordan, who was the only black man in the category, beat out favorite Leonardo DiCaprio, who showed up for the event sporting a new mustache but went home without a statue, although his flick “One Battle After Another” knocked off “Sinners” for Best Picture.

“I mean, the whole thing… The whole thing is so Hollywood. A room full of know-nothings who call themselves the Academy, making everyone tremble before their judgment, even though their judgment is often terrible, and fails the test of time,” Maher added. “Maybe the hashtag should be #OscarsSoWrong.”

Chris Donaldson
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