Former CNN host Don Lemon debated Bill Maher on how “a huge faction” of President Donald Trump’s supporters are “racist.”
Lemon triggered the disagreement when he recounted visiting the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. back in 2017 when Trump was first inaugurated. He recalled in the interview on the Club Random podcast how different men hit on him at that time.
“The idea that they would be hostile — I mean, I know a lot of MAGA people,” Maher quipped.
“One person was hostile,” Lemon insisted.
“Right, see, let me ask you your opinion on this. Saturday Night Live, 50th-anniversary show. They did one thing, they did a sketch where Tom Hanks puts on a MAGA hat, so he’s a Trumper. And then Keenan [Thompson] comes over to shake his hand and he won’t shake his hand,” Maher said.
“And I said this on Fareed’s show the other day. I found-, that’s so old, you know? I didn’t vote for him. I get all the bad things about that administration. But if you think they don’t shake black people’s hands, that’s, it’s just, it’s just, you’re wrong. That’s not who they are,” Maher told Lemon.
“Ehhh, some of them do,” the former CNN host, who was fired in 2023, interjected.
“Matt Gaetz shakes Black people’s hands, you know? Kid Rock will shake your hand. it’s just too-, it’s just not helpful to like think that half the country, that’s where they are,” Maher continued to press the point.
“You’re a comedian, you know, it’s, part of, it’s comedy,” Lemon continued to insist. “Let’s be honest, there’s a, there’s a huge faction of the MAGA movement that’s really f–king racist.”
“I wouldn’t say huge, no. I’d say partly-” Maher attempted to clarify as Lemon pushed back, “I would say huge.”
“Yeah, okay. Well, we have different perspectives,” the host of HBO’s “Real Time” conceded.
“I would say huge. And even if they’re not, you have to overlook a lot of that in order to support Donald Trump, which I think is maybe even more egregious than just saying I’m a racist,” Lemon added.
He also set off a wave of backlash when he declared that black MAGA voters aren’t “rational.”
“I don’t think you can be black and be a rational MAGA person, I think you can be black and be a Republican,” he told Maher.
Don Lemon parroting the racist talking point without the ability to see how racist he is. Still lumping more that half the country under the racist label no matter how bad it makes him and Democrats look. Keep it up Don and you will have Republican governments forever. https://t.co/iSvM5A5aNz
— Stickyfrog 🇺🇸 – Government-funded Media-USAF Vet (@stickyfrogg) March 17, 2025
“I think they would find that very insulting,” Maher countered.
“Well, the truth is often insulting,” Lemon fired back.
