Bill Maher—a man who seems to consider himself a pioneer in the field of smugly crossing the lines of America’s few remaining taboos—blew past another one tonight, casually dropping a racial slur in the middle of a televised conversation with Nebraska Republican senator Ben Sasse. Sasse was on Maher’s HBO program, Real Time, to promote his new book, and engaged in a bit in which he encouraged Maher to come visit his state and work in its fields. Maher responded, apparently off the cuff, with, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house nigga.”