"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin slammed comedian Bill Maher's criticism of wokeness on Thursday and said the comedian should be "ashamed."
Hostin argued that the term "woke" has been "co-opted" by the right and Maher himself.
"He’s comparing woke with identity politics. He thinks woke means a diversity of opinion. That is not what woke meant in the mid-1900s. It’s not what woke meant during the civil rights movement. It’s not what woke meant during BLM. It’s not what woke means now. I think he should be ashamed of some of the things he has said about wokeness," Hostin said.
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Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Hostin why "diversity of opinion" shouldn't be part of the definition of "woke."
"That’s not what it meant. That was a co-opting of the term. That’s to take the power away from Black people for standing up for what we deserve from this country," Hostin told Farah Griffin.
Farah Griffin asked again why "diversity of thought" wouldn't be included if the goal is to "reach as much diversity, inclusion and equity" as possible.
"Diversity of thought is not equivalent of being woke. Woke is not a political term. Woke is a term about racism, about social injustice, about equality. It doesn’t mean you like Trump or you don't, it doesn't mean you’re MAGA or you're not. It doesn’t mean you’re Republican or you're not," Hostin continued.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg argued that Republicans needed to "admit" they were "asleep."
"That’s how I look at it. We were not asleep. We’ve always been aware of what needed to go to happen because we couldn’t go to sleep," Goldberg said. "You had to keep an eye on where you were heading and what you were doing and how you were handling yourself. The same way that we always have these things that we explain. When we were kids we were told, this is how you have to deal with the police. There was no time to go to sleep. That’s why I always say they were the ones who just woke up. They’re freaked out because this was not what they were expecting to see."
The hosts discussed a clip of Maher saying "woke" started out as a "good thing" and turned into an "eye roll."
"Democrats sometimes can take it too far. I would categorize ‘liberal’ as different than ‘woke.’ Woke, which started out as a good thing, an alert to injustice, who could be against that? But then it became sort of an eye roll because they love diversity except of ideas. Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn’t good enough for you?" Maher said during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper.
Goldberg criticized Maher in January 2022 for comments he made about COVID-19 and masking.
"You don’t have to do it, but stay away from everybody, because if you're the one who’s not paying attention, and you’re coughing and sneezing … then stay out of the public, man," she said at the time. "Nobody wants this. I don’t want it. And I think he’s forgetting that people are still at risk who cannot get vaccinated … little kids under the age of five, or people with health conditions."
