Comedian Bill Maher ripped into Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong during Friday night’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” portraying the Democratic socialist as a “Grinch of all holidays” who has criticized Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and other celebrations.
In his opening monologue, Maher highlighted a 2020 social media post in which Hong wrote that Thanksgiving “should be canceled,” describing it as a celebration of colonialism. He noted that Hong had recently walked back the remark in a CNN interview but said he did not believe the reversal.
“Of course yesterday she went on CNN, renounced it. I don’t believe you! We know what you said. You mean it,” Maher said. “You know why I know she meant it? Because she hates all holidays.”
Maher listed additional past comments attributed to Hong, including feeling “attacked” by a Christmas scene on a computer, disliking fireworks on the Fourth of July, and calling Valentine’s Day “the holiday that brings out the worst of humanity.” He contrasted the Valentine’s Day remark with Black Friday shopping chaos and joked that Party City would be one place Hong would not be found.
“I couldn’t make a character like this up. And she’s running for governor of a big state, Wisconsin,” Maher said.
Hong, a state representative and frontrunner in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary for governor, has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over old social media posts, including the Thanksgiving comment and earlier statements supporting defunding or abolishing police and prisons. She has said her views can evolve, that she will not defund the police as governor, and that she is not interested in abolishing prisons. On Thanksgiving specifically, she has said it is her favorite holiday and that she does not want to cancel it, while noting it can be painful for some communities.
Maher had previously criticized Hong and other Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates on a July 31 episode, focusing on her comments about a world without prisons and warning that the Democratic Party was being “colonized” by the far left. He said then that his own vote was “in play.”
