Bill Maher 6/9/17

[Mr.Obvious]

Giving my two cents on this matter; Nigger seems a horrible, loaded term. Calling someone Nigger is just awful.
That being said... When talking about the word itself, I don't feel inclined to say: "The N-word is a bad word." I'll say: "Nigger is a bad word."
And that is because I believe the context of words is what gives it their meaning. Nor I, nor other people, should call anyone nigger. But I don't feel like saying nigger as I am doing now is bad because it's not 'aimed' at anyone. I'm not labeling anyone. I'm not insulting anyone. I'm talking about the verb itself.
Maher's joke, I guess, walks a line with that. In he doesn't talk about it without meaning, he uses the meaning, but he directs it at his own expense. You could call that cheap. You could not think it funny. (I for one didn't think it was particularly funny, but hey.) But you can't say he directed it at anyone else as an insult, nor that it wasn't a joke. If aimed at anyone, it was at himself. He is at the bud of his own joke. If he were to call, I don't know, Obama for instance, a house nigger, in one of his jokes; that'd be different.
I didn't think it was a great joke. But I don't think he needed to apologize. I don't think he did anything wrong.