Comedian Bill Maher characterized BuzzFeed and HuffPost as "peak woke" during a recent interview with Byron Allen, the media mogul who acquired BuzzFeed in May and also owns HuffPost. Maher made the remarks on his podcast "Club Random," stating that the publications were filled with snarky, millennial "nepo babies" who lacked perspective and facts.
Maher told Allen, who was a guest on the podcast, that HuffPost specifically had been "horrible" to him since Arianna Huffington departed. He criticized "the left" for its "purity" and suggested that publications like HuffPost held him to standards he did not meet because he did not adhere to their more radical viewpoints.
"A lot of what they believe, of course, is silly, insane revolutionary, garbage from people who don't know facts or history or perspective," Maher said. He added that the employees at these outlets were likely "indoctrinated before they got there and they are not America."
Allen, who has been CEO for a few weeks, stated that he does read his publications and aims to avoid getting "caught up" in extreme viewpoints. He acquired BuzzFeed for $120 million.
In February, HuffPost faced criticism for an article posted on X, formerly Twitter, that questioned the comfort level of rooting for the USA in the Olympics. The article's caption read, "If waving the American flag or chanting 'USA!' turns you off right now, you're not alone." It linked to a piece that discussed national shame for the federal government in contrast to American athletes winning medals, referencing President Donald Trump's immigration policies and the treatment of children at the border.
The article also noted comments from Olympic skier Hunter Hess, who stated, "There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of. Wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything going on in the U.S." BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost in 2020.