Harris' husband Doug Emhoff's controversies take centre stage on Bill Maher's show: ‘He definitely knocked up…’

Kamala Harris' husband and Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, had been presented as a feminist ally and a positive figure of masculinity. However, according to The Atlantic's Tim Alberta, he ultimately became “a problem” for the vice president's campaign that it is “going to have to deal with now.”

Emhoff recently became the subject of Real Time host Bill Maher’s ridicule as he addressed how the media was steering clear of his controversies. “There's a lot of scuttlebutt in the news this week about Doug,” Maher said in a panel discussion on a segment of his HBO show. “If people don't know what's going on, the Daily Mail is reporting that three women [Emhoff's ex-girlfriend] talked to contemporaneously, which has been the standard very often in these cases, that she said back in, I think, 2011 or something, they were at the Cannes Film Festival. He slapped her. He thought she was flirting with the valet."

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Conservative and liberal media not reporting Doug Emhoff controversies: Bill Maher

Maher also chuckled about it having been confirmed that “he definitely knocked up the nanny.” He went on, “What I'm saying is, if this becomes more credible- and we don't know yet. I mean, a lot of the conservative outlets still aren't reporting it, so I wouldn't go after anybody for not reporting it yet because these things have to be checked out. But if it becomes more credible, certainly on the level of Brett Kavanaugh, which was that kind of thing was reported by everybody pretty quickly. Does the liberal media keep ignoring it?”

Conservative radio host Buck Sexton answered, “Yes, they will. Absolutely.”

Maher consequently asked, “Wouldn’t that make it look worse?”

CNN’s Laura Coates eventually said that it was “fair” to further dig into the claims and cross-check their authenticity and that it made sense why the media was cautiously treading around the topic, given the serious implications of allegations levelled against Emhoff. Nonetheless, she continued, “What I don't think is fair is to, and I'm consistent on this on all accounts, is to tar and feather without more.”

“I think you have to give information to people, and you have to actually do your homework and background. I don't think by not reporting- and again, I'm not familiar with all of the allegations that are involved here, but I think it is appropriate to investigate as it is appropriate to be cautious before you simply put something into the ether that has those substantiations.”

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Doug Emhoff's response to the allegations

Harris’ husband released a statement confirming that an extramarital affair with the family nanny had ended his marriage with his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff. The claims also stated that he got the nanny pregnant.

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Emhoff said in a statement after DailyMail dropped a bombshell report. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”

More damning allegations followed as the British tabloid wrote that he “forcefully” slapped his then-girlfriend in 2012 and engaged in “inappropriate” and “misogynistic” office behaviour while leading the Los Angeles law firm Venable from 2006 to 2017.

Earlier this month, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough brought up several “tabloid stories about your personal life” during an interview with Emhoff on ‘Morning Joe,’ invoking DailyMail’s reports. However, the second gentleman merely brushed aside those claims without actually denying the allegations. “We don’t have time to be pissed off,” Emhoff replied. “We don’t have time to focus on it. It’s all a distraction. It’s designed to try to get us off our game.”

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