Maher blasts ‘intolerant left’ after Massachusetts lesbian bar faces fury for tweaking COVID-era mask policy
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bar → blast → policy
Comedian Bill Maher took aim at his own side of the aisle Friday night, mocking far-left critics who torched a struggling Massachusetts lesbian bar for daring to go mask-optional one night a week.
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who → take → bar
During Friday’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher weighed in on the viral story regarding Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue — a lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts that drew national headlines this week after the Boston Globe reported on a slew of community backlash surrounding the businesses’ decision to lift its COVID-era mask mandate for one night each week.
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Globe → weigh → night
“Here’s what’s going on at the Last Ditch Bar,” Maher said, adding, “It’s a very woke bar, which is fine.
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which → ’ → Bar
“I love the way workers and friends are fourth and fifth on the list,” Maher joked.
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Maher → love → list
The comedian went on to delve into the bar’s financial struggles.
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comedian → go → struggles
The Boston Globe reported that more patrons had said they could not afford the cover charge, and the bar allowed them in anyway.
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bar → report → them
“But economically, it wasn’t working,” Maher said.
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Maher → work → ?
“Because even though there was a cover charge, if you couldn’t pay, they wouldn’t make you pay.
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you → be → ?
But also, it was masked”
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it → mask → ?
Maher later pointed out that ‘because they’re losing money, one of the owners was living in her truck.”
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one → point → truck
In an attempt to keep the doors open, Last Ditch made the decision to lift its strict KN-95 mask mandate one night each week — Saturdays — and allow patrons inside without the COVID-era face coverings, according to the Boston Globe.
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Ditch → keep → Globe
“It is with love we inform our immunocompromised disabled divas we will be opening Saturday nights as mask optional,” Last Ditch wrote in an Aug. 31 Instagram post.
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Ditch → inform → post
The backlash was swift, with locals flocking to a monthly community meeting on Sept. 11 to air their grievances, the outlet reported.
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outlet → flock → grievances
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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who → criticize → mediator
“A lot of people are calling for an acknowledgment of harm and I’m hearing a WHITE therapist … center[ing] the feelings of a majority white and white adjacent staff,” one person said, the newspaper reported.
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newspaper → call → staff
Maher took issue with the far-left bar patrons’ apparent lack of understanding of the situation and blasted their intolerance toward the business.
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Maher → take → business
“And of course, the tolerant left did what they always do — became very intolerant and left,” Maher said.
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Maher → do → what
He went on to point to comments reportedly made by critics of the bar.
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He → go → bar
“And statements like, ‘People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,’ and ‘I hope your venue gets firebombed.’
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venue → kill → leisure
This is what I’m talking about.
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I → talk → what
“This whole story went viral because it’s shocking that a mask mandate is still in place at a bar in 2026.
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mandate → go → 2026
I imagine many people can feel more than a hint of the old COVID authoritarianism in the virulent leftist reaction to a single mask-optional night at this establishment,” Graham told Fox News Digital.
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Graham → imagine → Digital
“These same people are probably furious at the Boston Globe for publishing this story.
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people → publish → story
They don’t care that the bar was a financial mess.”
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bar → care → ?
Graham added that Maher seems to have a pet peeve about liberals who preach tolerance but, in Maher’s view, fail to practice it.
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who → add → it
“Bill Maher has a tendency to go against the dominant grain and can be savage about left-wing intolerance even though he was a massive supporter of Barack Obama,” Graham said.
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Graham → have → Obama
“He’s been very rough on organized religion, and can bring the pain to other strains of fundamentalism.”
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He → bring → fundamentalism
Fox News Digital reached out to Last Ditch Bar for comment.
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Digital → reach → comment
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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Mion → contribute → report
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