Bill Maher slammed for racially charged North Korea joke

Bill Maher is once again under fire for a racially insensitive joke, this time about North Korea and women who work in nail salons.

A month after the Real Time host sparked outrage by using the N-word on air, Maher tweeted Friday, “This N Korean thing is getting tense! I mean, I think it is, I’m on vaca. The ladies at my nail salon are freaking out, that’s what I know!”

Maher’s quip drew swift criticism online, with one Twitter user remarking, “Is this another racial slur??! Maybe you should stay on vacation indefinitely!”

Another wrote, “I love Bill Maher but he needs to scale back on the racist jokes a bit. This isn’t 1995.”

Maher has long been known for his provocative sense of humor but recently acknowledged crossing a line amid his N-word controversy last month. A week after uttering the slur in a joke gone wrong, Maher apologized on the air and candidly discussed race, comedy, and white privilege with author and sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson.

At one point, Maher said that comedians like him “are a trained thing that tries to get a laugh. That’s what we do. … And sometimes we transgress a sensitivity point.”

Representatives for Maher and HBO did not immediately respond to request for comment about his North Korea joke.

See more responses to Maher’s tweet below.