WASHINGTON — The Michigan chapter of a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization criticized Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin for her weekend appearance on comedian and pundit Bill Maher’s television program, which the senator sidestepped by rejecting religious hate against Jews and Muslims.

The first-term Michigan senator from Holly was the primary guest on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, where she sat for a one-on-one interview and a panel discussion.

Slotkin discussed — among other topics — her years-old decision not to accept money from a pro-Israel political action group, her concern over the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and her bipartisan proposal to ban insider trading by government officials on prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, did not criticize Slotkin’s remarks on the program but rather her decision to accept the invitation at all. The complaint pointed out past statements by Maher that CAIR labeled as Islamophobic, and it came at a moment of heightened religious tension in Michigan following the Temple Israel synagogue attack in West Bloomfield Township.

"We call on Senator Slotkin to apologize for appearing on Bill Maher's show and to denounce his long history of anti-Muslim hate and anti-Arab racism. It was deeply hypocritical for Senator Slotkin to embrace Bill Maher just days after she denounced a Muslim politician for association with a podcaster accused of bigotry," CAIR's national arm and Michigan chapter said in a joint statement.

The statement continued: "The double standards that American Muslims face, even from a senator who represents one of our nation's largest Muslim populations, are truly remarkable. If consistency means anything to Senator Slotkin — and if she believes hate against any of her constituents is unacceptable — she must denounce Bill Maher's bigotry and apologize for embracing him."

In response to CAIR's criticism over the Maher appearance, Slotkin — who is Jewish — denounced religious hate toward Jews and Muslims alike without naming any individuals or political organizations.

"I have always called out Islamophobia wherever I see it — from the left and the right. This is particularly true when Islamophobia rears its ugly head in the state with the largest Arab and Muslim population in the country. This is the same standard I apply to antisemitism, and hate of any kind," she said in a statement to The Detroit News.

The Kennedy Center, reshaped under President Donald Trump, recently decided to honor Maher with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Among the comments that CAIR attributed to Maher was his saying, “Talk to women who’ve ever dated an Arab man. The results are not good," and "It speaks volumes about why liberal Western culture is not just different. It’s better. President Obama keeps insisting that ISIS is not Islamic. Well, maybe they don’t practice the Muslim faith in the same way he does."

Who is Hasan Piker, and why is he controversial?

The podcaster in question, mentioned by CAIR, Hasan Piker, is a popular Twitch streamer and left-wing political commentator. Piker has made inflammatory statements about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., and the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in Israel. He has described himself as anti-Zionist but not antisemitic.

Piker is set to appear next week at two Michigan political rallies with U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, a pairing El-Sayed's Democratic primary contest rivals — U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak — have criticized.

Piker has said the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the “direct consequence” of the actions by the Israeli and U.S. governments and that it “doesn’t matter” if rapes happened on Oct. 7, saying “that doesn’t change the dynamic for me,” according to the New York Times.

Piker has also said the United States “deserved” the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but later apologized.

Slotkin, in a statement to Jewish Insider on the topic, did not name Piker or El-Sayed directly and suggested she was unfamiliar with the podcaster's past inflammatory statements.

"Any equating of all Jews or American Jews with Israel and the Israeli government is a problem right off the bat, and then it sounds like, from there, a cascading set of antisemitic tropes and just the kind of rhetoric that is — I want to read for myself, but sounds deeply antisemitic, consistently, and therefore not someone that should be helping anybody out in the Michigan political environment,” Slotkin reportedly told the outlet.

El-Sayed states openness to appear on Maher's program

The back-and-forth took a turn Monday evening when El-Sayed — who is Muslim — posted a video to social media about the importance of politicians engaging diverse audiences, saying he would be "happy" to accept an invitation from Maher.

He did not directly reference Slotkin or her appearance on Maher's program but did recall handwringing by Democrats in the wake of the 2024 election over the party's inability to reach voters. El-Sayed pointed to the much-debated decision by former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris not to appear on comedian Joe Rogan's influential podcast.

"Do we not remember that we wanted the Vice President to go on Joe Rogan to earn votes from the people who would have been listening to Joe Rogan, but don't pay attention to MSNOW and CNN?" the candidate asked rhetorically. "Joe Rogan's said some pretty crazy (things) too, and we were talking about how a Democratic politician should go talk to him because she wanted to talk to his audience."

"People trust individuals who are the same people every day who talk to them. And if Democrats don't want to deal with that fact — that new media environment, the fact that too often our politics feel bought off and that we're not actually having a conversation that engages everyday people, that they're finding other ways to get their political information — if we don't want to go talk to them, don't be surprised when we don't win elections," he added.

El-Sayed said he would not apologize for his upcoming events and would not cancel them: "I'm not going to apologize for every single video that people put up there — that Hasan said this, or Hasan that said that. Because judge me by what I say."

CAIR on Tuesday declined to weigh in directly on El-Sayed's statement. The group cited its status as a nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization, which bars the group from commenting on political candidates who do not hold elected office.

Instead, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell provided a general statement: "Bill Maher should not host a show at all given his long history of anti-Arab racism, anti-Muslim bigotry and using the n-word on live television, but as long as he does have a show, we do not object to principled elected officials showing up to directly condemn and challenge his hatred."

He continued: "What we do find objectionable is Senator Slotkin making a friendly appearance on Mr. Maher's show without challenging his clear record of anti-Arab racism and anti-Muslim bigotry just days after she condemned a Muslim politician for associating with a podcaster facing unspecified accusations of antisemitism."

El-Sayed, by contrast, said at the end of his video that he is open to appearing on some different programs to reach a wider audience.

"If Joe Rogan wants to have me on the show, I would love to come. If Bill Maher, who's said awful things about Muslims, wants to have me on the show, I'm happy to come. And if a Hasan Piker wants to have me on the stream and wants to come join me in Michigan, then I'd be happy to come," he said.

"And any Democrat who tells you that you cannot speak with some group of people because of one offensive thing that they might have said is missing the point of what it means to actually bring people into a legitimate mainstream policy where we can actually fight for the things we need and deserve."

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