Talk show host Bill Maher criticized the media for focusing too much on campus protests, which he argued did not accurately represent the majority of students. Maher discussed the anti-Israel protests on college campuses during a segment of his show “Real Time.” He pointed out that the media sensationalized the protests while ignoring more important issues.
Maher highlighted the fact that out of 15.2 million college students in the U.S., only 2,300 have been arrested in relation to protests, with many not even being students. He criticized the media for portraying protesters as the voice of their generation when they represent only a small minority.
In a specific example at the University of Pennsylvania, where 33 protesters were arrested, Maher noted that only nine of them were students. The university spokesperson confirmed that the protesters were charged with trespassing and released from custody, with suspicions of weapons found in their encampment.
Gov. Josh Shapiro commended UPenn for dismantling the encampment and refusing to meet protesters’ demands for amnesty. Maher also referenced a Harvard Institute of Politics poll showing that young adults ranked topics like inflation, healthcare, and housing as their top concerns, not the Israel/Palestine conflict.
