After launching a petition drive at the end of last year against HBO for tolerating the anti-Catholic bigotry of Bill Maher, we were anxious to see if he decided to pick up where he left off (his show took a two month break beginning around Thanksgiving).
When he returned January 19, he went right back to the well, attacking Catholicism. Maher showed a picture of a statue of St. Dominic, one that was recently commissioned by the Catholic Church in Australia. The statue depicts the saint offering a young boy bread; the child is standing next to the image at waist level. Maher, of course, saw this as a sexual statement, saying Church officials “didn’t think it all the way through.” He added, “Subway restaurants have finally found their new spokesperson, Father Footlong.”
“Maher is not only a bigot,” Bill Donohue told the media, “he and his homosexual writers continue to promote a false narrative: most of the priests involved in sexual abuse—there are very few today—were homosexuals who hit on postpubescent males. So if Maher wants to continue with this theme, let him at least tell the truth.”
At the end of this news release, sent to our email list, we printed the email address of Richard Plepler, the HBO chief. Our supporters let him have it. In addition, Donohue wrote to him (he knows Plepler) saying, “Your cowardice is astounding.” This was in reference to Plepler’s refusal to tell Maher to knock it off.
The next three consecutive shows went off without incident, suggesting that Maher was told to cool it. The only way Plepler can get us off his back is to make this cooling permanent.
