What To Know
- Bill Maher criticized Gen Z for contributing to a pervasive surveillance culture.
- He highlighted how everyday people, not just celebrities, are now targets of viral shaming and public scrutiny due to widespread smartphone use and social media.
- Maher urged viewers to stop recording and exposing others’ private moments, suggesting that reclaiming privacy and empathy would help improve society.
Bill Maher eviscerated “Generation TMZ” on Real Time With Bill Maher.
In the Friday, October 2, episode of his late-night HBO show, Maher took aim at Gen Z’s role in the current “surveillance state” during his “New Rule” segment.
“New rule — kids, let me help. I think I know why you have so much anxiety, so much loneliness. It’s because you live in a surveillance state. We all do,” the stand-up comedian, 70, insisted. “We’re all being watched and filmed, possibly screenshotted all the time. Who wouldn’t be paranoid? Petrified of making a wrong move that lives on forever?”
Maher then cited a report from The Wall Street Journal that people are scared to dance at concerts and clubs.
“Dance like no one’s watching? How quaint to think you could still do that,” Maher said. “Everyone has a GPA-enabled computer in their pocket. A tracking device in your car. A Ring camera at the door…”
After sharing a list of everywhere there are cameras, Maher joked, “I have reason to believe people are watching me right now.” He added, “Turns out, the only person in America with any privacy is Taylor Swift, who can somehow have a wedding in Madison Square Garden on the Fourth of July, and nobody sees it.”
That’s when Maher declared, “The people who complain about surveillance do a lot of it themselves. Gen Z is now Gen TMZ. and the targets don’t have to be a celebrity. One of the biggest viral stories this year was the two lawyers making out in Central Park.”
He then quipped, “It’s OK, they’re married. Well, he is.” Maher also joked that “people cheating is a long and cherished human right.”
Additionally, Maher set the record straight on the couple who went viral for “cheating” during a Coldplay concert kiss-cam.”The Coldplay couple were separated from their spouses at that time,” he noted. “But that didn’t stop them from being forced to resign from their jobs.”
Maher added, “Everyone complains about how s***ty America has become. But America isn’t some abstract thing happening to us. America is us. It’s the people in it. If you want it to stop being so terrible, stop being terrible people.”
He then proclaimed, “You want to make America a better place? Put the phone down, live your life, and stop looking to ruin someone else’s.”
Maher continued by mocking those who film others during such situations: “Ooh, you filmed a couple cheating or a stranger being a d*** at a CVS for a minute. Do you think you’re the good guy? No, you’re an a**hole. You’re the Taliban. You’re a snitch. In prison, you’d be dead because at least prisoners have a code. I mean, no wonder the younger generation is so shut down.”
To end his thoughts on the topic, Maher shared, “What’s cringey isn’t looking silly. It’s the narc who’s reporting it. That’s what’s cringe. So dance like your doorbell isn’t watching. Eat sloppy food like it won’t become a meme. Suck at karaoke and love — love like you aren’t on a kiss cam.”
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO