Gone Girl star Ben Affleck and Real Time host Bill Maher got into a heated argument about Islam on Maher’s HBO talk show Friday.
Maher and author Sam Harris argued that liberals were backing away from criticizing Islam’s stance on women’s and LGBT rights because people “have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism gets confused with bigotry toward Muslims as people.” Harris called Islam “the motherlode of bad ideas”; Maher called Islam “the only religion that acts like the mafia — that will f-cking kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”
Affleck, however, called these characterizations “gross and racist” and argued that Maher and Harris were just conflating the minority views of radical jihadists with the beliefs of the rest of the world’s estimated 1.6 billion Muslims. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof also jumped in on the conversation at points. Watch the full debate above.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Why Trump’s Message Worked on Latino Men
- What Trump’s Win Could Mean for Housing
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Sleep Doctors Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives
- Column: Let’s Bring Back Romance
- What It’s Like to Have Long COVID As a Kid
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com