Instagram/@drewbarrymore
During the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, Barrymore let out her thoughts, expressing the frustration of society being obsessed with pulling one another down. The Instagram clip, showing a visibly upset Barrymore comparing judgmental people to “snitches and bitches who rule society,” gave this monologue a very raw and candid feeling that many folk felt was genuine. The controversy revolving around her appearance with Maher seemed to have generated almost as much discussion as her words.
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“It is insane that we just take each other down,” Barrymore’s voice rises as she exclaims in the episode. “There’s people with nothing better to do than to hit send and then they think they’re some kind of warriors, social justice warriors—and you’re just a bunch of fucking gossips.” She said the rant “like 10 times” to the camera as a direct hit at this culture of online shaming and performative outrage. “Why are we doing that to each other? That’s what fucking just destroys me,” she says, before flipping the mood for a hopeful uplift.
The caption on the post—Drew Barrymore’s gotcha rant: Why are we doing this to each other?—garnered thousands of reactions, most praising Barrymore for being genuine. “Love you SO much Drew!” a user wrote, while another called her “a national treasure.” Maher’s presence, however, polarized the comments. “Love Drew. But him? Really? C’mon,” a critic retorted, alongside scores of others with similar complaints. One bluntly stated, “Maher has an entire show where he bitches and complains about everyone all the time. Spare me the self-righteousness.”
That dichotomy just shows Barrymore’s unique appeal: she can rant about toxicity and somehow escape the cynicism that clings to Maher. “She just kind of acted out what a lot of us are feeling but in real life,” said a listener. Another wondered about the rationale behind her platform choice: “Why this show, Drew? WTF?” while a third chimed in with, “Drew the only person drunk when stone cold sober—and that’s why we love her.”
Some condemned the whole thing (“Just stop it’s disgusting the both of u not funny not cool”) only to be jumped by Barrymore supporters expecting her to close ranks and defend her right to speak. “lol drew don’t listen to these ‘woke’ people,” one fan said. “Keep saying and doing what you wanna do… woke era is over my love!” This exchange mirrors Barrymore’s own point: Public discourse is a minefield of knee-jerk reactions, but some voices—such as hers—just mute all of that with disarming honesty.
People even speculated that Barrymore was getting sober (“It’s so great that she’s drinking again”), which gave spawn to a whole other line of discussion, where people were correcting everyone by insisting that she was drinking iced tea. This is such an apt example of the slippery slope that is, one assumption leads to another—one more example of the “judgey” bad behaviour that Barrymore is calling out.
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Whether the Maher crowd voted for him or not, Barrymore made sure that her message was transmitted loud and clear. “We just need to keep spreading joy, being nice and smiling,” said one hopeful lady wrapping up her cheer-fest. And true to form, with classic Barrymore humor, she almost apologized for throwing the nation under the bus. The Maher clicks were assuredly Drew’s during the commentary airs.
This story originally appeared on Celebrityinsider
