Bernie Sanders says he favors equality over equity — after saying he didn't know the difference

On a recent appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," Senator Bernie Sanders struggled to define the difference between equity and equality, before eventually stating that he sides with "equality" when prompted with the question by the host.

"I think this word 'equity' has come into the language in the last few years and, before that, we didn't hear it a lot. I think a lot of people hear 'equity' and they hear 'equality,' like it's the same word, and it's not the same word and the same concept," host Bill Maher explained.

"How would you differentiate between 'equity' and 'equality'?" Maher asked Sanders.

"Well, equality we talk about — I don’t know what the answer to that is," Sanders replied.

"'Equality' is equality of opportunity, we live in a society and we want all people to have —" Sanders continued before Maher interjected, saying, "Equity is, I think, is more guarantee of outcome, is it not?"

"I think so," Sanders answered.

"So which side do you come down on?" Maher asked.

"Equality," the senator stated.

Responding to video of Sanders' remarks, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld called the senator's lack of distinction "intentional."

"They want to replace the word ‘equality’ with ‘equity,’ but with equality, everybody has the opportunity from below to excel. So the starting blocks are the same. Equity requires that everyone finish the same, you know, which means there has to be force from above to keep everybody down, which is absolute fascism," Gutfeld explained.

Sanders recently made headlines responding to presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who had proposed a competency test for politicians over 75 years old.

“We are fighting racism. We’re fighting sexism. We’re fighting homophobia. I think we should also be fighting ageism," said Sanders in response to the proposal.

Haley replied at a campaign rally, saying, “Bernie Sanders lost his mind because I asked for that [test]. He is exactly the reason we need it.”

The senator has also frequently criticized corporate media companies while making his rounds on several popular shows.

"I'm going to tell you something you won't hear about too much in the mainstream media. We have a corrupt political system in which billionaires through super PACs can buy elections in this country," Sanders said after an interview with Stephen Colbert.

On his Twitter account, Sanders also stated that people have been "told by the corporate media that the status quo is as good as it's ever going to get."

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