Patriot Brief
Bill Maher broke ranks with Hollywood by rejecting performative activism at the Golden Globes.
Celebrity pin-wearing reduced a complex tragedy into shallow moral theater.
Maher’s refusal to play along highlighted how empty and consequence-free Hollywood outrage has become.
I haven’t always seen eye to eye with Bill Maher. On plenty of issues, we part ways early and often. But when someone is right, you admit they’re right — and on the Golden Globes’ latest bout of celebrity self-indulgence, Maher absolutely was.
While much of Hollywood chose to turn an awards show into a morality play, parading around with “Be Good” pins to commemorate Renee Good, Maher declined to join the ritual. When asked about the pins, he laughed — not cruelly, but honestly — and reminded everyone of something painfully obvious: “We’re here for show business today.” That wasn’t callous. It was grounded.
Maher didn’t deny the tragedy of a woman losing her life. He didn’t shrug it off or mock the seriousness of death. What he refused to do was participate in the theatrical rewriting of events that has become second nature to celebrity activism. His point was simple and devastating: you don’t need a lapel pin to have an opinion, and an awards show isn’t the place to adjudicate a complex, fact-dependent law enforcement incident.
That restraint mattered. In an industry addicted to applause cues and virtue signaling, Maher cut through the fog by separating tragedy from propaganda. A death can be tragic without automatically transforming the deceased into a political symbol or turning ICE into cartoon villains. That distinction used to be called adulthood.
The problem with Hollywood activism isn’t compassion — it’s laziness. Pins, slogans, and red-carpet statements don’t require facts, accountability, or even consistency. They’re consequence-free gestures designed to signal moral alignment to people who already agree. No one risks anything. No one learns anything. And nothing improves.
Maher understood that. He also understood that refusing to play along is, in today’s culture, an act of mild rebellion. He didn’t pretend the Golden Globes were a courtroom. He didn’t emotionally blackmail the audience into accepting a prepackaged narrative. He simply opted out.
And that’s why his response landed.
Performative outrage doesn’t clarify the truth. It doesn’t honor the dead. It doesn’t make anyone safer. It just reduces serious events into shallow symbolism and demands applause on command.
For once, Maher didn’t just crack a joke — he told the truth. And at an awards show drowning in moral theater, that was the only performance worth applauding.
From Western Journal:
If you’re a red-blooded American, a few days ago you may have been watching the Sunday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Chargers.
If not, you might’ve been watching one of Hollywood’s countless self-congratulating award shows, the Golden Globes.
And if you did tune into the Golden Globes — and even if you didn’t — you might have heard about the swathes of far-left celebrities who were wearing “Be Good” pins to commemorate Renee Good, the woman who lost her life after she tried to ram an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis with her car last week.
The pathetic anti-ICE stunt did what most hyper-partisan acts do in 2026 — getting lots of applause from the left and heavy eye rolls from the right.
But not everybody who leans liberal thought this was a stunning and brave act.
In fact, classic liberal — not to be confused with a modern leftist — Bill Maher seemed anything but impressed when asked about his fellow celebrities wearing these “Be Good” buttons.
Take a look at Maher’s reaction below:
Bill Maher was asked about Wanda Sykes wearing a “Be Good” pin for Renée Good and turning the moment into activism.
“Come on, we’re here for show business today. Uhh, you know, it was a terrible thing that happened, and it shouldn’t have happened. And, if they didn’t act… pic.twitter.com/hYEBEuoFhh
— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) January 12, 2026
When asked if he felt that the Golden Globes pin was a good platform to push activism, Maher’s response was telling.
“Come on,” Maher reacted, along with a hearty laugh at his fellow celebrities’ expense. “We’re just here for show business today.”
Maher did offer some more substantive thoughts on what happened to Good, however.
“You know, it was a terrible thing that happened, and it shouldn’t have happened, and if they didn’t act like such thugs, it wouldn’t have had to happen,” he said. “But I don’t need to wear a pin about it.”
Apparent “thugs” shot at ICE aside, this was a perfect response from Maher that highlighted the performative bluster that has completely hijacked his side of the ideological aisle.
Maher’s contrarian response mattered because it cut through the sanctimony.
In one short exchange, he said what most Americans were already thinking: an awards show is not a tribunal, and a lapel pin is not moral courage. It’s theater — safe, consequence-free theater — designed to signal virtue to people who already agree.
That’s the rot Maher was rightfully calling out.
Hollywood activism rarely aims to understand events or improve outcomes. It exists to perform moral alignment in front of cameras. No facts are examined, no accountability is applied evenly, and no serious questions are asked. The pin itself becomes the point, not whether the story behind it has been distorted or weaponized.
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Photo Credit: Noam Galai / Getty Images