Bill Maher Mocks Sensitivity Over Jada Pinkett Smith’s Alopecia: ”Just Put On A F**king Wig If It Bothers You So Much’

Comic and pundit Bill Maher mocked sensitivity to Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, which was central to the slapping incident at last Sunday’s Oscar awards.

At the heart of the slap heard ’round the world was Chris Rock cracking a joke about Pinkett Smith’s alopecia-induced hair loss, which was the ostensible provocation for Will Smith to leave his seat once the joke sank in. Alopecia is a condition that is especially prevalent among Black women.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the host asked guests Laura Coates and Andrew Yang about Mrs. Smith’s condition, which he mocked as relatively minor.

Ms. Coates diplomatically tried to explain the sensitivity, and allow for the fact that people may not have known much about the condition:

Bill Maher: Can I ask about alopecia? Because I must admit, when I, first, I saw the thing on TV, then I go to the Vanity Fair party, great party. And then I didn’t hear about it until then that she had, but you don’t know she had alopecia, and I had heard this word, but it was vague in my mind what it was. So I went like, Oh, well, that’s a very different thing. And then I found out what it is, and I’m like, Oh, no, it’s not that different. I mean, if you are so lucky in life as to have that be your medical problem, just say thanks, God. It’s it’s it’s not. It’s not life-threatening. You know, it’s part of, for most people, 80 percent of men, 50 percent of it’s part of aging, of aging is. Trust me, I know, it’s the degradation of the flesh. It happens to all of us. And, you know, just put on a fucking wig like everybody else at the Oscars if it bothers you so much. I mean, we all. We all, as we age, you know, we look worse. And you do things to deal with it as best you can. You know, I got my hair did this week.That’s my thing. I, my hair. My hair would be…

Andrew Yang: We’re getting pretty personal here, Bill…

Bill Maher: …my hair would be white and it would look worse on TV and people would think I’m older than I already am, which is already too fucking old for television. I’ll do what I have to do. Everybody else does. Timothee Chalamet wore a tuxedo with no shirt because he can get away with it. But. I wouldn’t want to see Jonah Hill try it. We all got to deal with who we are and, am I wrong about this?

Laura Coates: I don’t know. I woke up like this, so I don’t… I mean, a little of vaseline and cornstarch helps. But no, I agree with you, I mean there, I agree with the extent that we all have to do the things we have to do to be where we are.

However, I can imagine at one point, and just thinking about being in Hollywood, as she is, the idea of how much we look at women as they age, as opposed to Bill Maher aging or Andrew Yang aging. There is a different standard for women, and Black women in Hollywood in particular about the idea of how we are expected, I’m saying we like I’m in Hollywood, we in D.C., but you have to conform to certain aspects of it, and I think there’s probably a part of her that has been very, very empowered by being vocal about her alopecia and saying, Look, I’m owning it, I’m shaving my head. I feel like I am going to take this by the horns. And there’s probably those quiet moments with her husband when he is seeing and hearing a more personal aspect of it. But either way, the idea that we could all assume that everyone was aware of her condition at the time the statement was made, I think is a bit of an arrogance.

Bill Maher: It’s a condition like life is a condition, you know? Yes. Shit happens as you go down the path of life, and physically, it’s not all going to be roses. It just isn’t. And again, like on the scale of what I need to worry about or feel sorry about, I can’t get there.

Watch above via HBO.