Bill Maher Compared Zayn Malik to the Boston Marathon Bomber

Bill Maher found himself on the receiving end of One Direction fans’ fury after comparing former boy band member Zayn Malik to the Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

He made the comment during his show Real Time With Bill Maher during which he talked about Zayn leaving the band before saying: “Just tell me two things, Zayn. Which one in the band were you? And where were you during the Boston Marathon?”

Fans set up a Charge.org petition calling for Maher to apologise, which reads: “This is not about making Bill Maher a scapegoat and before you disregard this thinking 1D fans are angry because of Zayn Malik, think again. This is about how islamophobia, racism and discrimination of ANY kind is wrong, shouldn’t be ignored and must end.”

It continues: “This is completely unacceptable. Racism should not become normalised especially on NATIONAL TELEVISION. Bill Maher and whoever wrote the script, need to be severely disciplined and at least apologise to show that this type of behaviour is NEVER ok.

“Millions watch his TV show meaning he has an influence on many people, the fact that people in the audience laughed is proof of his negative influence.”

While this may have been seen as just another joke by Bill Maher, it plays into a stereotype that can have serious consequences.

It’s probably not often that Zayn Malik, who was raised as Muslim, has to deal with that stereotype, being such a recognisable figure, but it’s a reality for many Muslims living their day to day lives.

Maher is yet to respond to the complaints.