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Comedian Bill Maher took aim at his own side of the aisle Friday night, mocking far-left critics who burned down a struggling Massachusetts lesbian bar for daring to wear mask-optional one night a week.
During Friday’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher weighed in on the viral story surrounding Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue — a lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts that made national headlines this week after the Boston Globe reported on a series of community backlash surrounding the businesses’ decision to lift their COVID-era mask mandate for one night a week.
“Here’s what’s going on at the Last Ditch Bar,” Maher said, adding, “It’s a very woke bar, which is good. Their mission statement (is): ‘For dykes, transsexuals, gender lovers, workers and friends.'”
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Comedian and television host Bill Maher arrives for the 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on June 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)
“I like how workers and friends are fourth and fifth on the list,” Maher joked.
The comedian then addressed the bar’s financial difficulties. The Boston Globe reported that more and more patrons said they couldn’t afford the entry fee, and the bar allowed them in anyway.
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Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue recently waived its Saturday mask requirements in an effort to boost business. (Google Maps)
“But economically it didn’t work,” Maher said. “Because even if there was a cover charge, if you couldn’t pay, they didn’t charge you. The homeless, they were welcome in there. Not the cops, but the homeless. But besides, it was hidden.”
Maher later pointed out that “because they were losing money, one of the owners was living in his truck.”
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Maher said of the reaction to the bar’s policy change: “And of course the tolerant left did what they always do: They became very intolerant and moved left.” (Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)
In an effort to keep the doors open, Last Ditch made the decision to lift its strict KN-95 mask mandate one night a week — Saturday — and allow customers in without COVID-era face coverings, according to the Boston Globe.
“It is with love that we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas that we will be opening Saturday night mask-optional,” Last Ditch wrote in an Aug. 31 Instagram post.
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The response was swift, with residents flocking to a monthly community meeting on September 11 to air their grievances, the outlet reported.
Virtual attendees were quick to criticize the bar owners for their decision, with the meeting taking another turn when some critics objected to a mediator, a licensed therapist who is white.
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“A lot of people are calling for acknowledgment of harm and I hear a WHITE therapist … centering the feelings of a white majority and white adjacent staff,” one person said, the newspaper reported.
Maher took issue with the far-left bar’s patrons’ apparent lack of understanding of the situation and blasted their intolerance of the business.
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“And of course the tolerant left did what they always do: they became very intolerant and left,” Maher said.
He then highlighted comments allegedly made by critics of the bar.
“And statements like ‘People like you kill disabled people in the name of their own leisure and convenience’ and ‘I hope your hall is burned down.’ This is what I’m talking about. This level of hatred that exists.”
Maher’s criticism of the political left was noted by NewsBusters editor Tim Graham, who pointed out what he saw as hypocrisy on both sides.
“This whole story went viral because it’s shocking that a mask mandate is still in effect at a bar in 2026. I imagine a lot of people can sense more than a hint of the old COVID authoritarianism in the virulent left-wing reaction to a single mask-optional party at this establishment,” Graham told Fox News Digital. “These same people are probably furious with the Boston Globe for publishing this story. They don’t care that the bar is a financial disaster.”
Graham added that Maher seems to have a pet peeve about liberals who preach tolerance but, according to Maher, fail to practice it.
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“Bill Maher tends to go against the mainstream and can be savage about left-wing intolerance, even though he was a strong supporter of Barack Obama,” Graham said. “He has been very harsh on organized religion and can cause other currents of fundamentalism to suffer.”
Fox News Digital has contacted Last Ditch Bar for comment.
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Landon Mion of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
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