Bill Maher: Hollywood’s ‘Unbridled Romanticization of Gun Violence’ Is to Blame for Mass Shootings (Video)

It was the last Real Time before a five-week break, and luckily for Bill Maher, he had one last show to discuss the hottest topic of the moment, the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Ellise Shafer The Senate has approved a bipartisan gun violence bill in the wake of several mass shootings across the U.S., including one at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead.According to the Associated Press, the bill was passed by the Senate on Thursday evening with a 65-33 vote and now heads to the House of Representatives for approval. If passed through the House, the $13 billion bill would make background checks stricter for young gun buyers, help to restrict domestic violence offenders from purchasing guns, enact red flag laws to smooth the process of seizing firearms from dangerous people and fund programs for mental health and school safety across the nation.

The Senate passed a compromise gun saefty bill on Thursday in a 65-33 vote, marking a rare time that lawmakers of both parties responded to a wave of mass shootings with legislation.

John Mellencamp is slamming politicians for their lack of action and "vague" new gun control laws following the Uvalde, Texas, mass shootings in May that killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary. "Only in America, and I mean only, in America, can 21 people be murdered and a week later be buried and forgotten, with a flimsy little thumbnail, a vague notion of some sort of gun control law laying on the senator's desks," he tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

Donald Trump threw a verbal punch at Fox News Saturday, calling the network that helped get him elected president “stupid” for booking liberal comedian Bill Maher, who said the network backed out of talks for him to appear on one of their shows when he balked at “only talking about the things we agree on.”Why Trump’s swipe at Maher? Well, apparently Maher’s remark that Ron DeSantis would make a better president than Donald Trump has gotten under the skin of the former POTUS… and the “Real Time” host is loving it.On Friday’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the host-comedian said that the Florida governor who has modeled his every move on Trump would be a better president than The Donald  because “he’s not certifiably insane.”“That’s a great one to start off with,” Maher told his audience. “You know what Ron DeSantis won’t be doing? He won’t be poop tweeting every day.

Bill Maher didn’t sidestep his thoughts about Donald Trump and his hope that another Republican would come to the forefront before the 2024 presidential election, going as far as saying that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be better than Trump because “he’s not an insane person.”On Friday night’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the comedian-host jumped right in on what everyone interested in politics is talking about these days, and that’s the House January 6 committee hearings, which seem to be focusing on Trump’s involvement in the insurrection.“First of all, I actually have no issue with Trump being prosecuted, and I have a lot of issue with elites being left unaccountable for the crimes that they commit, number one. Number two, that’s not going to solve our problem,” guest panelist and podcast host Krystal Ball said.

read more about it here.Anyway, Maher recapped that situation. Naturally he thought the joke was at worst a throw-away gag, easily forgotten and an example of the huge amount of jokes that have been told about the differences between men and women.

Bill Maher has a beef with Millennials, specifically those who inhabit the newsroom of the Washington Post.

Amy Schumer, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo have joined more than 200 US actors, directors, producers and writers in signing an open letter calling for a change to gun portrayal in Hollywood films and TV shows.This year has already seen over 250 mass shootings in the US, with recent events in Buffalo and Uvalde provoking further debate in a country where more than 40,000 people are shot and killed with guns every year.The newly published letter from the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence – also signed by Shonda Rhimes, J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Judd Apatow, and Jimmy Kimmel, among others – attributes the problem to “lax gun laws” and politicians “more afraid of losing power than saving lives”, but notes that representations in film and TV can play a part.It's up to us to make sure senators #DontLookAway from our country's gun violence crisis.

signed a pledge promising to portray guns in a responsible way onscreen.A batch of writers, actors, producers and directors — including Jimmy Kimmel, Mark Ruffalo and Amy Schumer — have endorsed an agreement titled #ShowYourSafety for Brady United.The organization is a gun-safety lobby launched in 1981 after Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan’s White House Press Secretary, was shot by a gunman who was attempting to assassinate the former president.“Hollywood has modeled positive culture change before: Seatbelt use, smoking, teen pregnancy, marriage equality,” the company explained on its website Monday. “Now, as America’s gun violence epidemic worsens, is the time to undertake a responsibility in storytelling depicting firearms and gun safety.”Other A-listers who notarized their signature include Debbie Allen, Judd Apatow, Betsy Beers, Adam Brody, Shonda Rhimes, Adam McKay, Liz Tigelaar, Chris Van Dusen, Krista Vernoff, Julianne Moore and many more.The petition does not ask Hollywood to rid of guns and gun violence on TV and film completely, but for creatives to be “mindful” of onscreen weapons and how they are depicted.The pledge implored “America’s storytellers” to entertain audiences, but also to “acknowledge that stories have the power to effect change.”“Guns are prominently featured in TV and movies in every corner of the globe, but only America has a gun violence epidemic,” the memo went on.

Brady. Now, as America’s gun violence epidemic worsens, is the time to undertake a responsibility in storytelling depicting firearms and gun safety.”Other signatories include John Glickman, Wyck Godfrey, Grant Heslov, Simon Kinberg, Damon Lindelof, Adam McKay, Hannah Minghella, Julianne Moore, Eli Roth, Mark Ruffalo and Amy Schumer (read the full list here).The pledge includes an open letter and a three-pronged approach to #ShowYourSafety, including modeling responsible gun ownership and showing “consequences for reckless gun use.”Read the entire statement below:Like most of America, we are enraged by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. Considering there have been over 250 other mass shootings so far this year, it’s an almost incomprehensible tragedy.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorA group of 200 top writers, producers and directors have signed an open letter backed by the Brady gun violence organization that includes a pledge to incorporate gun safety best practices into their shows and to scrutinize the use of firearms in storytellling.The list of signatories includes Shonda Rhimes, Bill Lawrence, Jimmy Kimmel and the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” writing staff, Michelle and Robert King, Judd Apatow, Steve Levitan, David Shore, Matt Nix, Dan Lin and Jenni Konner. The letter frames gun safety an urgent social issue for the industry to embrace, in the same way that intentional depictions of such topics as cigarette smoking, drunk driving, the use of seat belts, marriage equality and LGBT rights helped change cultural attitudes and save lives.

In a bit of fortuitous timing, Bill Maher invited ex-Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway as a guest on this week’s “Real Time” — apparently having locked down her appearance weeks ago. But the episode came just a day after the first night of the Jan. 6 commission’s congressional hearings, making Conway’s appearance extremely timely.

In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Texas, many people are crying out for someone to “do something.” Yet some of the loudest voices in that chorus are among the biggest hypocrites when it comes to creating an atmosphere that promulgates violence among the feeble minded.

“What I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution, and constitutional authority,” President Joe Biden told Jimmy Kimmel today of why he hasn’t inked an Executive Order to try to stop the murderous gun violence that America has tragically seen in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, to name a few, in recent weeks.

James Gunn wants people to stop blaming Hollywood for gun violence.

knowing things.”He went on: “I know it’s super important to stop the grooming of our kids or, I don’t know, to start it, and certainly critical race theory must be stricken from the curriculum or, who knows, maybe included in all of it.

the astonishing cowardice displayed by local cops, who Maher said “should have trouble sleeping.”You can watch the whole discussion above.By now you know what happened, but just so no one forgets: After the massacre, law enforcement officials and the Governor of Texas spun stories of bravery and heroism. It turns out all of that was lies.Since the massacre, police have changed their account at least 13 times, and every new excuse they’ve trotted out has later been proven false.

This week’s panel discussion featured Michael Shellenberger, a California gubernatorial candidate, cofounder of the California Peace Coalition, and author of San Fransicko: W,hy Progressives Ruin Cities; and Douglas Murray, columnist for the New York Post and The Sun, and author of War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason.