Bill Maher causes outrage after using racial slur live on air

'Bill Maher has got to go. There are no explanations that make this acceptable'

(Getty Images)

Bill Mayer — known for breaking taboos and previously hosting the show Politically Incorrect — has angered fans once more after casually using a racial slur while on air.

Midway through an interview with Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse on HBO’s Real Time, the Republican jokingly asked Mayer to visit his state and work in the fields.

The host responded by saying: “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house n***a.” After a mixed reaction from the crowd, Mayer clarified: “It’s a joke.”

Many were angered by the comment, civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson writing on Twitter: “But really, Bill Maher has got to go. There are no explanations that make this acceptable.”

Philip Lewis of the Huffington Post said he wasn’t surprised by the comment: “I am not shocked that Bill Maher says the word n****r. It rolled off his tongue so effortlessly.”

Sasse was appearing on the show to promote his book The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance, in which he attempts to explain why 10, 15, 20, and 25-year-olds all seem the same today. He talked about manual labour developing character and how, in Nebraska, fewer adults go trick-or-treating than in the rest of America.

Maher — who has not responded to the controversy — is known for aggravating many, one journalist refusing to appear on Real Time because Milo Yiannopoulos was also invited on.