Bill Maher Speaks After Islam Debate With Ben Affleck: "We're Not Crazy Teabaggers"

Actor had become upset during a panel discussion about the subject on Real Time With Bill Maher

By Corinne Heller Oct 08, 2014 5:29 PMTags

Bill Maher is defending his political views following a heated debate about radical Islam on his HBO show with Ben Affleck, who appeared to become increasingly upset during the five-person discussion.

The Real Time With Bill Maher episode aired on Friday, the day of the release of the actor's newest movie, the crime thriller Gone Girl, and amid recent killings of Westerners by ISIS and a U.S.-led air assault in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic militant group, an al Qaeda offshoot also known as Islamic State.

"I think we all feel frustrated because I think we feel like the people who are arguing with us are not listening," Maher told Salon in an interview posted on Monday. "We're liberals! We're liberals. We're not crazy teabaggers, y'know, and so it's kind of hard to be making this case—based on facts, based on polling, I think based on what everybody really knows."

Affleck had accused panelist Sam Harris, author of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, of stereotyping and "condemning" all Muslims, which he denied. When asked by moderator Maher why he was being hostile, the actor spat out, "Because it's gross, it's racist!"

Maher had said Islam was "the only religion that acts like the mafia that will f--king kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture or write the wrong book" and that, "We have to empower the true reformers in the Muslim world."

"I mean, do the people arguing with us, would they really open a lesbian art gallery in Ramallah? [Laughs] Or Karachi? Or Cairo?" Maher told Salon, referring to cities in the Palestinian Territories, Pakistan and Egypt, areas where radical Islamists and non-violent but devout Muslims live. "I don't know if they would back up what they're saying with actions."

 "We are not bigoted people," he added. "On the contrary, we're trying to stand up for the principles of liberalism!" he added. "And so, y'know, I think we're just saying we need to identify lliberalism wherever we find it in the world, and not forgive it because it comes from [a group] people perceive as a minority."

PHOTOS: Stars get political

Maher refused to discuss Affleck's emotional reactions in the debate. The actor has not commented.

Affleck won an Oscar for his 2012 film Argo, which is based on a real life story of the 1979 hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. The actor directed and starred in the film as a CIA agent who orchestrates the rescue of those taken prisoner by Islamic militants.

The United States and several allies, including the Arab states Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, are targeting ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, where the Sunni Muslim extremist group's fighters have killed thousands of people deemed non-believers over the past few months as they sweep through the regions and capture more territory. Since August, they have beheaded two U.S. and two British citizens and are believed to be holding several other Westerners hostage.

In September, a Wall Street Journal and NBC News poll showed 60 percent of Tea Party supporters believe talking military action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria is in the national interest, while the figure for Republicans stood at 71 percent, for Democrats, 54 percent and for Americans overall, 61 percent.

"ISIS couldn't fill a double-A ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia," Affleck, a huge Boston Red Sox fan, said during the Real Time With Bill Maher debate. "The question is the degree to which you're willing to say, 'Because I've witnessed this behavior...I'm willing to flatly condemn those of you I don't know and have never met.'"

"No, not condemning people. It's ideas," Harris replied.

"And people who believe in those ideas...based on reality, Ben," Maher added.

Harris said on his website following the debate that he was "a little thrown by Affleck's animosity" and believes the actor was "gunning" for him from the start. He has not responded.

"I want to make one thing clear, however," Harris said. "I did not take Affleck's hostility personally."