Bill Maher has a beef with celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Beyonce and many others who preach the need for changes to address the environmental crisis while also using one of the worst contributors to the problem – emissions-spewing private jets.
“My name is Bill, and I fly private. And so does every other person who calls themselves an ‘environmentalist’ who can!” Maher said on Friday’s “Real Time.”
Maher was on a bit of a tirade during the New Rules segment, saying that the ol’ “recycle” approach was doing very little – if anything at all — to combat climate change.
“If insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and expecting a different result, we have to stop being insane in our approach to fixing the environment and try something new,” he began. “Asking people to be good, trying to convince our citizens and other countries to use less and pollute less, sacrifice more. When you tell humans if you do these environmentally friendly things, we can all continue to live. Their response is ‘what’s in it for me?’”
Banning gas stoves, drinking through paper straws and recycling isn’t going to do the trick, he said, pointing out that only 5% of plastic put into blue recycle bins actually gets recycled. What would make a difference, he argued, was reducing our carbon footprint — and that is where the hypocrisy begins. He then ran a rather lengthy stream of photos of celebrities and politicians who have spoken out about the topic exiting a private plane.
“Their position on climate change is, ‘We must do more to stop pouring carbon into the air. Except for me, when I want to go somewhere and then I take a private jet,” Maher said, as images of everybody from Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney to King Charles III and the Dalai Lama deboarding. “It turns out there is one thing in this world that is completely impossible to resist. And this is it. It’s like heroin — if you do it once, you’ll never stop.”
He admitted, however, that he does take private planes to get from the Los Angeles taping of his show to standup gigs around the country when they are on the same night. But he also admitted that he doesn’t “need” to do standup. On the flip side, he owned a first-generation Prius in 2001, which, he said, “looked like a Tylenol gel cap.” He had hoped that if he “took one for the team” everybody would follow. That didn’t happen.
“Nobody followed. In 2021, 80% of new vehicles weren’t electric, weren’t even hybrid. They weren’t even cars. They were SUVs and trucks. That’s what people want,” he said. “In 1973, the share of global electricity generated by coal was 38%. You know what it was? 46 years later in 2019 after all the talk and all the trying, 37%.”
“We need to get serious.”
You can watch Bill Maher’s entire “New Rules” segment from his HBO series “Real Time” at the top.
