Bill Maher scolds 'social justice warriors' over Oberlin lawsuit: 'There's a price to pay'

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"Real Time" host Bill Maher on Friday's show slammed the "social justice warriors" at Ohio's Oberlin College, a school recently ordered to pay $44 million to resolve a libel dispute stemming from a shoplifting incident at a nearby bakery.

"Social justice warriors ... are finally finding that maybe there's a price to pay [for political correctness]," Maher said during the show's panel segment. The liberal comedian has long argued that political correctness does more harm than good to the cause of liberalism.

"Social justice warriors ... are finally finding that maybe there's a price to pay."

— Bill Maher

BILL MAHER CALLS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS 'CANCER ON PROGRESSIVISM,' SAYS HE DOESN'T TRUST MEDIA

Some students and faculty at Oberlin College had launched a boycott against Gibson's Bakery, allegedly accusing a bakery employee of racism after some black teens were suspected of shoplifting. The boycott reportedly caused the business to take a financial hit. But after the teens pleaded guilty roughly a year later, a jury found the university guilty of libel resulting in the school's financial penalty.

During the "Real Time" panel segment, New York Times columnist Bari Weiss stressed that social media comments on Twitter and other platforms can cause "reputational damage."

NeverTrump conservative commentator Charlie Sykes added that the "bullying" culture and the "calling you out" mentality have intensified in recent years.

"I'm tired of the term 'political correctness'," Sykes said later. "It's like 'performative wokeness.' In our mono-culture, we have to find a way to humiliate, to drive people out that we disagree with, and I will tell you that there's a huge backlash. ... The folks on the right were bailing on liberalism. ... They're basically saying that, 'The Left wants to destroy you, they hate you, they want to take away your rights, they want to destroy your business.' Unfortunately, you have anecdotes like this that make it that plausible."

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"How do we get mainstream liberals to stand up that faction?" Maher asked.

Sykes responded by pointing to remarks made by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat who is seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination. Sykes described Buttigieg as a potential "bridge" builder between the LGBT community and Chick-fil-A, the restaurant chain linked to several LGBT-related controversies.