Bill Maher blasted on Twitter for telling Jada Pinkett Smith to ‘put on a wig’

Comedian Bill Maher has come under fire for minimizing Jada Pinkett Smith’s autoimmune disorder and telling her to “put on a wig” in comments he made on April 1.

Per People, Maher took aim at Pinkett Smith’s health status in the opening monologue of his talk show Real Time on HBO. The comedian told his audience that there are “worse things than alopecia” and argued that it was “not leukemia, okay?”

Later in the show Maher brought up Pinkett Smith once again with his guests, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and legal analyst Laura Coates. He told them that he initially took issue with Chris Rock’s G.I. Jane joke because he thought that alopecia was a more severe health condition. 

The talk show host said he then revised his opinion when he learned that alopecia was “not life-threatening.” The comedian claimed to have Googled information about the disorder and went on to say that Pinkett Smith should “thank God” that her health was not compromised by what he deems a more serious diagnosis.

Maher then ridiculed Pinkett Smith, suggesting that she was being overly sensitive about having alopecia.

“Aging is, trust me I know, it’s the degradation of the flesh. It happens to all of us. And you know, just put on a f—ing wig like everybody else at the Oscars if it bothers you so much.”

Maher inserted himself into the controversy about the slapping Rock’s face in what is probably the most scandalous Academy Awards moment to date.

Maher’s comments about Pinkett Smith were slammed on social media as hateful, ableist, sexist, and racist.

When you tell a woman with alopecia to put on a wig so that she'll be accepted & her medical condition won't be made the butt of a joke, the problem isn't the person with a medical condition, the problem is with you…

Bill Maher is an ableist piece of shit.

— Andy Siebe | ♿ Rolling Rebel- Congress or Bust! (@SiebeforORD1) April 2, 2022

Another criticized Maher’s ignorance about alopecia.

@billmaher Do you know someone with #alopecia? It’s an auto immune disease with serious physical and psychological impact. To say it’s an insignificant affliction; that you could live with it if that’s what was wrong with you vs leukemia. Seriously insensitive and ignorant.

— Mitchell Caplan (@mcaplanNY) April 2, 2022

Some felt that Maher was wearing his biases on his sleeve, with one tweeting:

I think it’s funny how Bill Maher spends most of his time criticizing Jada Pinkett about alopecia. Jada Pinkett is not the one who walked up and slapped Chris Rock, her husband did! We don’t know if she took that personal or not. Jada Pinkett didn’t say anything!

— ThaBlaqueMique (@BlaqueMique) April 2, 2022

Another agreed, tweeting that it was unfair that Maher and Tony Rock blamed Jada for the conflict between her husband and Chris Rock.

This mess is turning REAL racist REAL quick. Maher needs to STFU and worry about the women in his community. No matter what issues I have with Jada, we don't need your trash box opinion Bill Maher. pic.twitter.com/x6LrYo9tEh

— Nicole's View 🇺🇲 (@BLKLiberation84) April 2, 2022

Others felt that Pinkett Smith had unfairly become a punching bag of sorts following the incident.

Jada Pinket Smith sat quiet and rolled her eyes.

Chris Rock's brother called her a b*tch. Bill Maher told her to "put on a f*cking wig if it bothers you so much"

Ask yourself why and how she became the punching bag in this incident. 1/?

— (((fluorescentgoonshrieking))) (@AlizaWrites) April 3, 2022

Still more echoed Maher’s cherchez la femme sentiments, with some going as far as to accuse Pinkett Smith ⏤ who has yet to comment on the incident ⏤ of having a “victim mentality.”

https://twitter.com/LisaSenise/status/1510314552021331973?s=20&t=tfoJQpbBTrPiBkuNTnyjtw

The saga of the 2022 Oscars continues as Smith’s fate teeter-totters in the wake of his shocking act of violence against Rock.

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