During Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” host Bill Maher reacted to the California Coastal Commission’s rejection of a proposal from SpaceX to increase rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Members of the commission cited company owner Elon Musk’s political opinions — which have drifted to the right in recent years — in rejecting the proposal.
After noting that he personally disagreed with some of Musk’s tweets, Maher noted that the tech mogul is now suing the 12-man commission. “Okay, again, one of the most impressive companies, an American company, he wants a little more, give it to him. No. The commission — some bureaucrat said, nope, and this is the reason why: Commissioner Caryl Hart, saying, ‘[W]e’re dealing with a company the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race, and made it clear what his point of view is,’” the HBO host said.
“Yes, because he lives in America and he can do that. It has nothing to do with this, and the right thinks that the left is in a very different place with free speech than they have been before, and they’re not wrong, they’re not wrong. This is arrogant. You don’t punish somebody — it would be like if we stopped Henry Ford from making the cars because we didn’t like –,” he continued.
Left-wing billionaire Mark Cuban then jumped in and attempted to downplay the commission’s decision. The part owner of the Dallas Mavericks chalked the rejection up to a one-off, “stupid” decision. Maher responded by noting that the individuals in question are government officials and wield significant power, which Cuban also dismissed as a non-issue.
“But it’s just the attitude that I find scary, that — far too willing to stifle freedoms, including speech, for the sake of safety or misinformation — sometimes, which is coming from everybody. It’s — no one has a monopoly on it — or just power, it’s just power,” Maher went on to state.
