Late-night talk show host Bill Maher blasted liberals’ reaction this week to reports of a Texas Muslim teen who was arrested for bringing a clock that looked like a bomb to school, saying Ahmed Mohamed deserved an apology, but there’s nothing wrong with teachers being cautious.
“This kid deserves an apology, no doubt about it. They were wrong. But could we have a little perspective about this? Did the teacher really do the wrong thing?” Mr. Maher asked Friday on his HBO show “Real Time,” Mediaite reported.
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” star, added that he too had doubts about the story based on a phone conversation he had with Ahmed — claiming his sister was feeding him answers — and saying he heard secondhand that the 14-year-old brought the clock to several different classes, and it wasn’t a problem with other teachers.
Mr. Maher said that it’s normal for teachers to be a little suspicious when a young Muslim student brings in a clock that “looks exactly like a [expletive] bomb,” because there are young Muslims “blowing [expletive] up” all over the world.
He pointed out that the teen’s school is located in Irving, Texas, just 25 minutes away from Garland where two jihadist gunmen attacked a “Draw the Prophet Mohamed” cartoon contest in May.
Republican presidential candidate and former New York Gov. George Pataki agreed, saying there are zero-tolerance policies in schools for suspicious looking items like Ahmed’s clock.
“What if it had been a bomb?” Mr. Maher asked, Mediaite reported. “So the teacher is supposed to see a bomb and go, ’Oh wait, this just might be my white privilege talking. I sure don’t want to be politically incorrect, so I’ll just let it go.’ “
Mexican-American journalist Jorge Ramos and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews pushed back on Mr. Maher’s argument. Mr. Ramos objected to what he said was racial profiling in Ahmed’s case and Mr. Matthews lamented Americans who are too quick to take sides without knowing what actually happened.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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