Marc Maron Calls Out Comics Featuring ‘White Supremacists’

Marc Maron doesn’t laugh at podcasters and comedians who invite “shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists” onto their shows.

In a long blog post on Mondaythe host of “WTF With Marc Maron” called out his colleagues who have provided a platform for far-right figures and warned of a rising “American fascist movement.”

“Once tolerance is removed from dialogue, democracy suffocates,” Maron wrote.

The podcaster, who received a lot of attention because of the role of the then president Barack Obama said on his show in 2015 that he had long predicted the United States was making a disturbing turn toward authoritarianism.

“What is brewing in this country is an American fascist movement rooted half in resentment and half in Jesus and enabled by tech oligarchs and a barrage of propaganda from many sources,” Maron wrote.

The comic said the fascist mentality has since “fully penetrated” and is now “flowing into the minds of all of us.”

“It’s shameless and proud,” he continued. “Culturally, the combination of blatant racist fear-mongering and the anti-woke movement has delivered their message for the future. A future that marginalizes almost all voices.”

Maron criticized comedians for making that cultural shift possible. He wrote: “The anti-woke flank of the new fascism is driven almost exclusively by comics, my colleagues.”

He said it didn’t matter whether those comedians were true believers or opportunists.

“Whether they are driven by the idea that what they are fighting for is a matter of freedom of speech or whether they are truly morally bankrupt racists, it doesn’t matter. They are part of the public face of a fascist political movement that wants to destroy the democratic idea.”

He added: “When podcast comedians have shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show to make jokes as if they were just entertainers or even politicians, all it does is humanize and normalize fascism. When someone uses their platform for that reason, they are facilitating anti-American sentiment and promoting violent autocracy.”

Although Maron did not mention any comedians or politicians by name, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made podcast appearances a key part of its strategy to reach younger, predominantly male, voters.

Some from the former president most viewed moments of this election cycle during job interviews with podcasters like Joe Rogan and Theo Von.

Maron’s comments follow comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s stream of crude and racist jokes during the opening Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening.

Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash,” prompting the Trump campaign try to distance yourself from his comments.

Read Maron’s full blog post here.