Bill Maher slams 'evil, ruthless' Monsanto: 'The Scientologists of the corporate world'

In an interview with MauiNow.com, comedian Bill Maher took a moment to congratulate activists on the island of Maui who managed to prevent biotech giant Monsanto from carrying out its plans to grow GMO crops there.

On Nov. 4, voters in Maui County heeded warnings by the Sustainable Hawaiian Agriculture for the Keiki and the 'Aina (SHAKA) Movement and voted to suspend the growth, testing and cultivation of GMO crops on the island.

When MauiNow.com's Vanessa Wolf asked about Maher's thoughts on the electoral victory, he said, "All I can say to the folks on Maui who were a part of this is 'You go, girl!' That’s fantastic."

He continued, "I’m jealous. We tried to do something like that in California a couple years ago. In that case, we weren’t asking Monsanto to change anything. We were just asking that they let us know: Give us the information, label the products, so we can decide for ourselves."

"Well, of course, a company like Monsanto," he said, "which owns all the great lobbyists in the world, went to work and they convinced people that it would cost them more money at the grocery store. It was a disingenuous and dishonest thing to say, but it worked and people voted it down."

"But we’ll be back again," vowed the Real Time host. "These things always take more than one time -- medical marijuana, legal marijuana, gay marriage -- it takes a while before people get used to an idea. They’ll get used to this, and we’ll have success."

"Monsanto is – from my point of view – the most evil company in the world," he said, "and that’s saying something in a world that also includes ExxonMobil, pharmaceutical companies, defense department companies and all sorts of merchants of death. Monsanto has the potential to REALLY f*ck with all of us."

He concluded, "And they’re ruthless. They’re the Scientologists of the corporate world. I worry a lot about Monsanto, honestly, and I suppose my advice would be don’t bring a knife to a gun fight."