Bill Maher is receiving both cheers and jeers from viewers of his Real Time with Bill Maher show, as Friday (May 30) night’s episode of the HBO Max series found him calling out singer Cassie Ventura for her “enthusiastic consent” to Diddy‘s “freak-offs” via text messages that were read aloud during his current sex trafficking trial. Maher also stressed his belief that it is easier for women to leave abusive men in a post-#MeToo society.
“We need to keep two thoughts in our head at the same time,” Maher, 69, began. “One, Diddy is a bad dude — really bad. Like, the worst thing in rap since Hammer pants. A violent, sick f**k — I’m sorry, an alleged violent, sick f**k. And we should lock him up and throw away the baby oil.”
He continued, “And two, things have changed enough that moving forward, the rule should be, if you’re being abused, you’ve got to leave right away…If Diddy walks free, it will be because his lawyers can point to an endless stream of texts from Cassie expressing what’s often called ‘enthusiastic consent’ to their sex life.”
During her May 15 testimony, Cassie read aloud texts she shared with Diddy saying, “I’m always ready to freak off” and “I just want it to be uncontrollable.”
Maher joked, “If you’re ‘MeToo-ing’ someone, it’s not helpful to your case if you text him, ‘me too!’”
Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura (Photo by Aurora Rose/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
“It’s not victim-shaming to expect women to have the agency to leave toxic relationships. Quite the contrary, to not expect that is infantilizing,” Maher added. “I understand why it can be difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship, but this should be society’s new grand bargain. We take every allegation seriously, but don’t tell me anymore about your contemporaneous account that you said to two friends ten years ago. Tell the police right away. Don’t wait a decade. Don’t journal about it. Don’t turn it into a one-woman show. And most importantly, don’t keep f***ing him. Your only contemporaneous notes about what he did should be a police report.”
Maher also suggested that Cassie was more willing to put up with the abuse due to Diddy’s stature in the industry and her desire for fame and success.
“If you want a No.1 record so bad, you’ll take a No.1 in the face, some of that is on you,” Maher said, referring to testimony that Diddy and male escorts urinated on the “Me & U” singer during freak offs. He then compared the situation to that of Ike and Tina Turner, praising the Queen of Rock for escaping her abuser in a much harsher environment for women.
“R&B singer Ike Turner was a psycho, just like Diddy. But in an era when there was no movement to help her, Tina Turner somehow got away and she did it with 36 cents in her pocket and a mobile card.”
Check out the full segment below.
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