Bill Maher, the host of HBO, swiftly responded to Sunny Hostin, co-host of “The View,” on Tuesday when she attempted to educate him on the definition of “woke.” Hostin, dissatisfied with Maher’s critiques of the “woke” movement, argued that the term has been distorted and exploited by the political right, despite its original purpose of addressing racial injustices.
“It struck me in the first segment you used the term woke. You said that woke is sort of what was ruining everything, and—” Hostin began.
“No, I didn’t say ruining everything, I said that’s why Trump could get re-elected,” Maher corrected.
“That’s why Trump could get re-elected. So, I just, the term woke in my view has been co-opted by the right and weaponized and bastardized, so I was surprised to hear you use the term because historically, as you know—because I think you’re quite brilliant—that woke is a word used by the black community to note that we must be aware of social injustices,” she continued.
“But words migrate,” Maher argued.
“But why is that a bad thing?” Hostin asked.
Watch the full exchange:
