Ice Cube Confronts Bill Maher On His Show For Saying The N-Word

Call it his Maher-a culpa.

After getting welcomed with a standing ovation from the "Real Time" audience, Bill Maher set about having a discussion on race, with his use of the N-word last week front and center.

"I did a bad thing," the host confessed to guest Michael Eric Dyson. "For black folks, that word, I don't care who you are, it's caused pain. It doesn't matter that it was not said in malice, it caused pain and that's why I apologized. I'm not that big of an a--hole."

Maher provoked outrage after the June 2 episode when guest Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse not-so-sincerely asked the comedian, "Would you like to come work in the field with us?"

Maher responded by throwing his hands up and saying, "Senator, I'm a house n---er."

Citing a racism "resurgence" in the country, Dyson, a Georgetown professor of sociology and author, responded by encouraging Maher to continue acknowledging the "unconscious reflex" of white privilege.

Rapper and actor Ice Cube didn't let the host off as easily, jokingly telling him, "I knew you were gonna f--- up sooner or later. I love your show, you got a great show, but you've been bucking up against that line a little bit. You've got a lot of black jokes.

"Sometimes you sound like a redneck trucker."

Maher brought up his apology from earlier in the episode, but Ice Cube persisted.

"I accept your apology, but I still think we need to get to the root of the psyche," he said. "Because I think there are a lot of guys out there who are too familiar, or think they're too familiar, or they had a black girlfriend or two that made them some Kool-Aid and they think they can cross the line. And they can't.”

The NWA founding member reaffirmed earlier in the week that he’d be appearing on the show despite Maher’s remarks, promising that he wouldn’t back down.

“That's our word now, and you can't have it back,” he told Maher.

"It's like a knife, man. When I hear my homies say it, it don't feel like venom. When I hear a white person say it, it's like a knife.”

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