Comedian Bill Maher turned Cassie Ventura’s intimate exchanges with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs against her in a victim-blaming tirade as he declared a “new rule” for the #MeToo movement.
During a Friday night segment on his Real Talk with Bill Maher HBO show, Maher picked apart graphic text messages between the former couple—revealed this week during the rapper’s federal trial on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Maher then proceeded to lay blame on Cassie for the years of abuse she allegedly suffered at Diddy’s doing.
Maher claimed, “Things have changed enough that moving forward, the rule should be, if you’re being abused, you’ve got to leave right away.”
Maher attempted to qualify his controversial take by insisting that “it’s not victim-shaming to expect women to have the agency to leave toxic relationships,” and that by extension, “not to expect that is infantilizing.”
Maher was joined by an uneasy looking Jake Tapper of CNN—there to promote his bombshell book on Joe Biden, Original Sin—and Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton.
A graphic featured alongside the comedian during his on-screen monologue included one of Ventura’s messages, which read “I’m always ready to freak off” in reference to Diddy’s now-notorious sex parties.
“If Diddy walks free, it will be because his lawyers can point to an endless stream of texts from Cassie expressing what’s often called ‘enthusiastic consent’ to their sex life,” Maher said. “If you’re ‘MeToo-in’ someone, it’s not helpful to your case if you texted him, ‘me too’!”
Maher suggested that Cassie should have spoken up sooner and was in a better position to do so than other women who have recounted sexual abuse at the hands of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein decades later.
“We take every allegation seriously, but don’t tell me anymore about your contemporaneous account that you said to two friends 10 years ago,” Maher said. “Tell the police right away. Don’t wait a decade. Don’t journal about it. Don’t turn it into a one-woman show. And most importantly, don’t keep f–king him.”
Maher added, “If we’re going to have an honest conversation about abuse, we also have to have an honest conversation about what people are willing to do for stardom.”
