Bill Maher is developing a pattern here. While his humor has always been that of a shock jock, garnering attention with crude attempts at humor at the expense of others, his inner racist bubbles up during the least expected times. Take Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Maher was interviewing Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), a black Republican, and lo and behold, a racist crack came from Maher’s lips as easy as a hot knife slicing through butter. Kudos to NewsBuster’s Managing Editor, Curtis Houck, for capturing it.

Video: Here's Bill Maher lobbing a clearly racist joke to GOP Congressman Will Hurd, asking him if he gathered undercover intel for the CIA out "by the Popeye's Chicken." pic.twitter.com/gxwNZQKyAL

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 2, 2019

Of all the references Maher could have used as he made light of the former CIA operative’s work in dark alleys, gathering intelligence in the wee hours of the morning, Maher used Popeye’s, a fried chicken fast food franchise. What’s the matter, couldn’t Maher think of a zingy watermelon reference? The Daily Beast caught it and pounced.

Following some back and forth about the border wall, which Rep. Hurd—who represents “more border than any part of Congress”—isn’t a fan of, Maher asked Hurd, who is black, why he’s a Republican.

“I’m a Republican because I believe in limited government,” Hurd responded.

“But they don’t do that,” interrupted Maher. “I’m a Republican because I believe in the rule of law. I’m a Republican because I believe in economic opportunity,” Hurd continued.

“They don’t do that either,” Maher interrupted again.

“I’m just asking why you’re a Republican?” he pressed. “Because they’re not good at the debt, that was their big thing. You said limited government, they don’t do that. They took over the Congress in 2011 and they raised the debt a trillion dollars a year. They’re not good at national defense—the president’s a traitor. What’s in it for you? What is in the Republican Party for you? You were in the CIA!”

With that, Hurd explained, “I was in the CIA for almost a decade. I was the dude in the back alleys at four o’clock in the morning collecting intelligence on threats to the homeland.”

“That’s where you’d collect it, huh? Wow,” shot back Maher. “By the Popeyes Chicken?”

You can hear a bit of groaning coming from the audience. Even they knew Maher had stepped out of bounds.

Talk about timing. Maher’s HBO show tapes in the late afternoon on Fridays, if I remember correctly, and it’s taped on the West Coast so he may not have known about the outrage of the day spreading out of Virginia. Of all days to let loose with a lame racial slap to a black guest, Friday was the least hospitable time. Virginia Governor Northam caused a bi-partisan backlash from politicians, celebrities and the Twitterverse Friday afternoon as a photo from his medical school yearbook showed the governor either in blackface or wearing a KKK costume. I’m still not clear which one he is in that picture.

Democrats didn’t care that the governor came out in support of legislation legalizing infanticide in Virginia but this photo from 30 plus years ago is beyond the pale, apparently. I certainly don’t condone the blackface or the KKK costume. The governor was 25 years old at the time and in medical school, not some dumb 18-year-old kid in his undergrad days. He knew it was wrong, or he should have known. But it sure would have been good to see Democrats as outraged about the inhumanity of the Virginia legislation.

This isn’t Maher’s first time in the barrel over a racist remark. Just two years ago, during an exchange with Senator Ben Sasse, Maher let loose with the n-word. He later apologized for that remark, a rare occurrence for Maher. Will he feel the need to address this, too? I would guess not, as he will probably claim it was just a joke. C’mon people, lighten up!

It’s just all a bit rich, isn’t it? Democrats love nothing more than to label Republicans as racists every day of the week. In Northam’s case, he was the one who jumped ugly in his election as he accused his Republican challenger of being racist. During Maher’s interview with Rep. Hurd, he was conjuring up the trope that black Americans can’t possibly be Republicans. Hurd was patiently explaining why he is a Republican – his belief in limited government, fiscal responsibility, national security – and Maher was challenging him every step of the way.

Liberals sure have been making it easy to call them on their insincerity and faux outrage lately. The Northam story and the Maher “joke” were all in the same day. 2019, y’all.

Bill Maher insults black CIA vet by suggesting he picked up tips "behind the Popeye's Chicken" same day as Ralph Northam admits he submitted racist af blackface Klan photo to yearbook – it's almost like this is all a game to them.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) February 2, 2019