While much of the country has been vilifying Will Smith for smacking Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, “Real Time” show host Bill Maher instead ripped into Jada Pinkett Smith.
The caustic comedian, who hosts “Real Time” on HBO, slammed Pinkett Smith for not putting on “a f–king wig” for the Oscars.
“I mean, alopecia, it’s not leukemia, OK?” Maher said during his opening monologue. “Alopecia is when your hair falls out … there are worst things.”
Maher, 66, later returned to the subject while speaking with guests Andrew Lang and Laura Coates. Maher said he initially thought that Rock, 57, crossed the line with the infamous “G.I. Jane” joke about Pinkett Smith, 50. But then Maher said he changed his mind once he looked up the auto-immune disease called alopecia which Pinkett Smith suffers from.
“If you are so lucky in life as to have that be your medical problem, just say ‘thanks God,’ ” he said. “It’s not life-threatening. It’s part of — for most people, 80 percent of men, 50 percent of women — it’s part of aging.”
“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 f—ing wig like everybody else at Oscars if it bothers you so much,” Maher added.
But that’s the point for Pinkett Smith and other women who suffer from alopecia, which is a condition that causes hair loss. The Set it Off and The Matrix star spoke about her shocking discovery that she was losing her hair on her “Red Table Talk” show.
“It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, am I going bald?’ ” Pinkett Smith said in 2018.
