Despite his long track record as a far-left pundit, comedian Bill Maher has become an unlikely ally of conservatives in recent years due to his outspoken opposition to the so-called “woke” ideology of the modern-day Democratic Party.

During the most recent episode of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” another unexpected anti-woke voice emerged: former CNN host Don Lemon. 

Maher, Lemon and New York University professor Scott Galloway engaged in a broad panel discussion on the topic, beginning with the resignation of a long-time NPR editor who wrote a scathing op-ed denouncing the public radio network’s increasingly far-left bias.

“What do you think of the hubbub, Don, over NPR’s alleged — alleged, OK — liberal bias?” the host asked. “The NPR flap, that was the big story last week. What do you think about that … as someone who’s had his tussles with media?”

Lemon acknowledged that he is not an avid NPR listener but affirmed that “it does have a liberal bent” and some “self-examination” by its leaders is warranted as a result of the recent controversy. 

He then segued into a tangent assailing the concept of “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies that have been widely denounced by those who believe many institutions now place a higher premium on immutable characteristics like race and gender than on a candidate’s qualifications for a particular role.

“DEI is, look, there’s some great things about DEI, but it’s not all, you know, roses,” Lemon continued. “And I think we need to take a look at it and do some rejiggering, because it’s gone too far. It’s become a religion. And if you don’t abide by the religion, you get kicked out of the church.”

Galloway brought the discussion back to NPR, insisting that it should “return the 1% of funding they get from the government so they can just be naked and unafraid about their bias, like the rest of media.”

Maher concluded that his assessment was “true and completely reasonable,” which he said would probably make it off-limits for discussion on public radio.

“That is the exact kind of thing if you said that on NPR, they’d fire you,” he said, gesturing to Lemon, who was fired from CNN and reportedly had an offer for a social media-based program rescinded. “You’ve been fired enough lately.”