Bill Maher: Critics of Beto O'Rourke's silent wife in video should 'shut the f--- up'
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HBO host Bill Maher on Monday slammed those on the "far left" who complained that the wife of 2020 contender Beto O'Rourke was silent in his presidential announcement video.
"I see Twitter got made because Beto's wife didn't talk during his announcement. You're right, he's a sexist monster, we're better off with Trump," Maher tweeted. "To my FarLeft friends: you're doing it again. Amy can talk or not, her call, but you need to shut the f--- up."
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O'Rourke, 46, announced he was jumping into the 2020 race on Thursday morning, ending months of speculation about a potential White House bid. He posted a video to Twitter in which he explained why he's running for president, with his wife, Amy O'Rourke, sitting beside him.
Amy doesn't speak in the video, and appears to smile, and look at her husband for a majority of the 3-minute, 29-second clip.
Twitter users flocked to the platform to criticize the video, complaining about O'Rourke's wife's silence.
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One user called the move "disappointing," and said his wife sitting next to him with "a super sweet looking face is not the right image fir today."
"Why does wife sit and stare at husband as campaign is announced," another user tweeted. "So unnatural. Please stop this."
"wow they really made beto's wife just sit there and stare at him silently for 3 and a half minutes huh," someone else wrote.
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Soon after his announcement, the former Texas congressman raised eyebrows when he seemingly joked that he only "sometimes" helps his wife raise their three children. He later apologized during a taping of the "Political Party Live" podcast in Cedar Rapids and said the backlash was "constructive criticism."
"It has already made me a better candidate. Not only will I not say that again," O'Rourke said to laughter, "but I'll be much more thoughtful going forward in the way that I talk about our marriage and also the way in which I acknowledge the truth of the criticism that I have enjoyed white privilege."
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O'Rourke's campaign announced on Monday that the candidate raised a whopping $6.1 million online in the first 24 hours following his announcement, marking a new record for the 2020 Democratic primary race.
Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," also tweeted earlier this month a photo of himself and O'Rourke.
"Look who came to my show in El Paso tonight, @BetoORourke. Crowd went nuts,same last night when his name came up in Austin," he tweeted. "Dems cld do a lot worse than putting some of THAT on the ticket.
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Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.