General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is There Anyone Here Who Is Actually Dumb Enough [View all]MrPurple
(985 posts)to Sasse's comment inviting him to come to Nebraska to "work in the fields". It was a split second attempted comic reply expressing that he's a city guy and "working in the fields" isn't something he'd be into. He was going off the word fields and the Malcolm X/slavery expression was the edgy response that popped into his head.
If someone had run the same straight line past Lewis Black, his response probably would have been about being Jewish and that his people don't do field work or something. Maher knew he'd misfired and apologized right away. Running a live political discussion show (since 1993) that is also supposed to be edgy and comedic, there's bound to be some miscues.
He's had a lot of nuanced discussions about race over the years with many African American guests. I doubt that he'll try to comedically use the N word again, but I don't think the intent/context of this comment or Maher's long history of discussions have been mean spirited toward African Americans.