Bill Maher says Chappell Roan would be ‘thrown off a roof’ in Gaza

'Chappell, if you think it was repressive growing up queer in the Midwest, try the Mideast'

Get the latest from Mark Daniell straight to your inbox

Published Oct 14, 2024  •  4 minute read

Bill Maher has targeted LGBTQ singer Chappell Roan over her recent comments on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Photo by YouTube

Bill Maher gave Chappell Roan a history lesson during a New Rule segment of his Real Time show, after the pop star waded into the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Article content

Roan made headlines earlier this year when she turned down an invitation from the White House to perform at a Pride event in June.

The 26-year-old queer singer-songwriter has become one of the biggest music stars of the year thanks to songs like Good Luck, Babe! and Hot To Go!

Last month, she told Rolling Stone that she planned on attending the ceremony and using her appearance to protest the Biden administration’s involvement in Israel’s retaliation against Hamas in Gaza after the terror group orchestrated last year’s Oct. 7 attack.

“I had picked out some poems from Palestinian women. I was trying to do it as tastefully as I could because all I wanted to do was yell,” she said. “I had to find something that’s tasteful and to the point and meaningful, and not make it about me and how I feel. I don’t know if I’ll ever get that close in direct sight of the president ever in my life. This is my shot.”

Article content

Article content

After dispelling any notion that she is voting for Donald Trump this November, Roan went on to tell the outlet that she was supporting Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House.

“Right now, it’s more important than ever to use your vote, and I will do whatever it takes to protect people’s civil rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “My ethics and values will always align with that, and that hasn’t changed with a different nominee. I feel lucky to be alive during an incredibly historical time period when a woman of colour is a presidential nominee.”

In a TikTok video posted last month, Roan accused the Democratic Party of having “genocidal” positions concerning the Palestinians.

“But f*** some of the s*** that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you, and more so Palestine,” she said.

Article content

Chappell Roan performs at FirstBank Amphitheater on Oct. 1, 2024 in Franklin, Tennessee. Photo by Jason Kempin /Getty Images

But Roan’s comments didn’t sit well with Maher, who offered the singer a history lesson of how Hamas feels about people who identify as LGBTQ+.

“To mark the Oct. 7 anniversary, we must launch a campaign to educate young Americans about the Middle East,” Maher said during his show Friday night. “And the way I’d like to begin that process is by addressing an open letter to Chappell Roan. Now, to those viewers who aren’t watching this while also looking at your phones, let me explain. … She’s actually a great new recording artist, who, like a Hezbollah pager, is really blowing up.”

Maher then quoted some of Roan’s lyrics and told her how the people she is so intent on defending would likely kill her if they could.

“Chappell, if you think it was repressive growing up queer in the Midwest, try the Mideast. You’re a female drag queen and you sing ‘I f***ed you in the bathroom when we went to dinner at your parents.’ That wouldn’t fly in Gaza, although you would, straight off a roof. The same goes for ‘knee deep in the passenger seat and you’re eating me out.’ Yea, my guess is the morality police would figure out that one’s not about the drive-thru and kill your feathered boa-wearing ass. You know when you sing that ‘L.A. is where boys and girls can all be queens every single day’? You’re welcome, but offer not good in the West Bank,” Maher said.

Article content

The HBO host offered up some praise for Roan for speaking out against “oppression,” but maintained that she doesn’t know anything about the group Israel is trying to defeat.

“You’re not wrong that oppression is bad or that Palestinian and many other Muslim populations are oppressed and deserve to be freed,” he said, “You just have it completely ass-backwards as to who is doing the oppressing. Hamas is a terrorist mafia that took over Gaza… Are you sure this is who you want to throw down with?”

But Maher had some sympathy for Roan not knowing what she’s talking about when it comes to Hamas and accused her of being misinformed because she gets her news from TikTok.

“The fact that you don’t know much about history isn’t your fault. You live in the United States where the schools stopped doing that whole teaching facts thing a while ago,” he said. “But getting all your history from TikTok is like getting all your calories from Hostess.”

Maher also said that a popular argument referring to “Jews as colonizers in Israel” is like “calling Native Americans colonizers here; it’s ridiculous.” 

[email protected]

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   'EXTREME WOKENESS': Bill Maher calls Canada 'a cautionary tale' for America

2. 

   'I JUST CAN'T': Bill Maher says he won't lose his mind if Trump elected again

Article content