“As one of the few people in the public eye who’s gone through life and never had kids, someone has to tell me why am I always having to defend them,” the 68-year-old quipped.
“But I also think it’s every adult’s job to protect them,” Mr. Maher continued, referencing Investigation Discovery’s explosive new docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” The five-episode series, released in March, explores the toxic underpinnings of children’s television programs throughout the ‘90s and aughts.
“It is just scene after scene, clip after clip, of the child stars of their day being subjected to obviously inappropriate, highly sexualized degradation,” the political pundit said.
“So I don’t know if this doc is the talk of your town, but it is out here because it didn’t just expose a dangerous workplace, it also exposed hypocrisy,” Mr. Maher asserted.
‘The Dark Side of Kids TV’
The comedian touched upon various allegations that have mired Disney over the years, including a 2014 CNN investigation spanning six months that uncovered approximately 35 Disney employees who have been arrested since 2006 on charges of sex crimes involving children, which were reportedly unrelated to the park itself. At the time, the publication noted that 32 individuals had been convicted of the charges made against them.
Mr. Peck, a former dialogue coach for Nickelodeon, was arrested in 2003 on sexual abuse charges involving a minor and sentenced to 16 months in prison the following year. Mr. Peck was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell revealed in Investigation Discovery’s riveting docuseries that he was the unnamed minor in the 2004 sexual assault conviction of Mr. Peck. Mr. Bell’s father, Joe, also claimed in “Quiet on Set” that he was called “homophobic” by production for raising concerns about Mr. Peck.
“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Wokeness in America
Mr. Maher said the sexualization of today’s youth isn’t constrained to Hollywood, pointing out the influx of LGBT doctrines in schools and children’s books across the country.“There’s a certain kind of activist these days who wants to take heterosexuality ... and lump it in with patriarchy and sexism and racism and tell kids, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if you were anything but that?’” the television personality shared.
“People who believe in social justice have agreed this is wrong and this is bad and exposing kids to an adult world of lurid costumes and garish makeup borders on abuse,” he added, lambasting drag queen story hours.
“If you want kids to be more tolerant, why not have handicapped people read them stories? Kids are more likely to encounter disabled people than drag queens in life. ... Can’t we just go back to the good old days when kids were read simple stories with simple morals,” Mr. Maher declared.
“I’ve said it before, wokeness is not an extension of liberalism anymore. It’s more often taking something so far that it becomes the opposite,” he continued. “Teaching kids not to hate or judge those who are different, great. Proud we got there, all for that. But at a certain point, inclusion becomes promotion.”
Addressing the difference in cognitive abilities between children and adults, Mr. Maher emphatically stated that “children aren’t miniature adults.”
“They’re gullible morons who'll believe anything and just wanna please grownups. And they don’t have any frame of reference,” he explained. “That’s why endlessly talking about gender to six-year-olds isn’t just inappropriate, it’s what the law would call entrapment, which means enticing people into doing something they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”
Concluding his segment, Mr. Maher said, “Maybe we should think about giving kids a break from our culture wars for a minute, or at least until the election is over.”
