Bill Maher has always been known for his larger-than-life opinions, as well as his pointed commentary on current happenings. Maher took to commenting on the nature of Twitch viewers in his most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that he thinks "people watching other people play video games is a waste of f***ing time."
The segment in which Maher made his comment was centered around the young criticizing the old for not understanding how to use technology. In his "New Rule" segment, Maher commented on how ageism is now accepted among the population as a way to discriminate. This opinion was amplified with the subtitle "OK Boomer."
Maher had started the part of his show by commenting on how President of the United States of America Joe Biden has been completely competent in his position and how comedians around the country had expected him to fall on his face full of stereotypical old person gaffes. With this not happening, Maher pointed towards the younger generation of the country, criticizing them for not realizing that with age comes wisdom.
Please note that the following clip uses offensive language.
The divide between generations is nothing new for countries around the world. With younger generations comes more acceptance towards new technologies. Maher doesn't acknowledge this reality, simply saying, "you're beautiful when you're young, wise when you're old." Ironically, criticizing the actions of entire younger generations could be seen as ageist.
While the comment regarding Twitch viewership is about the younger generations being more likely to watch, Maher fails to acknowledge the equivalency of watching any professional sports. While older and younger generations have often bonded over professional athletics, the ongoing pandemic has created new inroads with viewers to drive them to Twitch. While many sports were forced to suspend their seasons, Twitch remained available. In 2012, Maher shared that he was a minority owner of the New York Mets, a professional baseball team.
Bill Maher has often had controversy surrounding himself, especially while interviewing Republican Senator Ben Sasse. During the interview, Maher casually dropped a racial slur and was forced to apologize for the use after the fact. Maher has taken on the role of adding shock value, having one of his shows entitled Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Older generations like Maher may see watching Twitch as a waste of time, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, a waste of time has been what many people have been in search of.