What To Know
- Bill Maher addressed the alleged gang rape at Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity, expressing both personal disdain for his alma mater and concern over the incident.
- He criticized fraternity culture broadly, arguing that all-male institutions like fraternities foster depravity and that such incidents could happen anywhere Greek life exists.
- Maher called for colleges to abolish Greek life, emphasizing that tradition alone does not justify maintaining institutions that enable harmful behavior.
Bill Maher eviscerated Cornell University and Greek life amid the “Cornell 6” rape case at his alma mater.
In the Friday, October 9 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, the late-night host, 70, addressed the alleged gang rape of a female college student by members of the Chi Phi fraternity.
“Now that everyone is talking about Cornell, stop asking me about it just because I went there,” Maher said during his “New Rule” segment. “First of all, I graduated almost 10 years ago. How would I know?”
He continued, “What I do know is this alleged gang rape at the Cornell Chi Phi frat house is deeply disturbing. But since it’s my alma mater, where I walked those hallowed halls for four years with so many memories, I don’t want to let my personal feelings get in the way.”
That’s when Maher revealed, “Because they’re all bad,” declaring: “Cornell sucks, and I f***ing hated it, and I’m glad to see them eating a s*** sandwich.”
However, he acknowledged that Cornell “did give me a very good education,” and that a similar attack “could have happened anywhere there are fraternities because it happens everywhere there are fraternities.”
“Any place that’s all-male, no girls allowed just doesn’t function without depravity,” Maher declared. “Ask the Catholic Church. Ask the Taliban. Human nature is bad. And the best we can do is create institutions that don’t make it so easy to be worse.”
Because of this, Maher called for colleges and universities to get rid of “Greek life,” which “despite the togas, is not a precious legacy handed down from ancient Greece.”
He then pointed out, “There’s no law that says we have to keep something alive just because it’s 200 years old. I mean, besides Chuck Grassley.”
Maher explained, “Everything that’s inherently bad about men gets worse if you put them in a fraternity. The drinking gets worse, the cruelty, the treatment of women, the tribalism, the peer pressure, oneupmanship, conformity, segregation, nepotism, bullying, elitism, and just general a**holery.”
After taking aim at fraternity mission statements and their use of “gentlemen,” Maher detailed that the Jane Doe Cornell case involved a young woman who “went to a frat house drunk and did ketamine. And for that, she claims to have paid a price no woman should have to pay.”
He then proclaimed, “I do know what a gentleman is. A gentleman, gentleman, is someone who, in that situation, doesn’t exploit the woman. He saves her. That’s a gentleman.”
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO