Bill Maher is sharing his opinion on ABC’s decision to indefinitely preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with his perspective as a fellow late night host who endured his own share of controversy while on air with the same network.
The Real Time host wasted no time addressing the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show at the top of his monologue, where he started, “Well, I guess you all heard Jimmy Kimmel, my friend, my compatriot, he’s canned by ABC for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.”
“The day right after [he made the comments], the head of the FCC said he’s gonna revoke ABC’s license,” Maher added. “Let me just tell you something: I am not intimidated by the FCC. And if President Trump is watching, I have one thing to say to you — have you lost weight?”
He then addressed his own controversy that arose in 2001 while hosting ABC’s Politically Incorrect.
“It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot at Politically Incorrect. Oh yes, I got canceled before cancel even had a culture,” he said. “This s*** ain’t new. It’s worse, we’ll get to that, but you know, ABC, they are steady. ABC stands for ‘Always Be Caving.’”
Maher defended Kimmel, noting, “Jimmy, pal, I am with you, I support you, and on the bright side, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland.” Later in his monologue, he showed him even more support, further referencing the end of his tenure with ABC.
“Jimmy, let me just say, you did a great, funny show for two decades,” Maher said. “You should be proud of that. If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you’ll get 23 years on a better network.”
Maher faced a wave of backlash 24 years ago when he made remarks about the 9/11 hijackers under a week after the attacks occurred on an episode of ABC’s Politically Incorrect. The series was one of the first late now shows to return to air following the terrorist attacks, as the episode arrived on Sept. 17, 2001.
There, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza argued against the notion that the hijackers were “cowards,” stating, “Not true. Look at what they did. First of all, you have a whole bunch of guys who are willing to give their life. None of them backed out. All of them slammed themselves into pieces of concrete. These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so — I mean, I’m all for understanding the sociological causes of this but we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn’t blame themselves because other people want to bomb them.”
Maher responded, “But also, we should — we have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” Following his remarks, he issued an apology and ABC released a statement in support of Politically Incorrect.
The series was not pulled from air, though the show was canceled after the 01-02 season. A few months after the end of Politically Incorrect, ABC notably announced a new late night show with Kimmel.
Maher sat down with Joe Manchin and Alex Wagner during the panel segment of the Friday episode of Real Time, where he noted a past X post made my Charlie Kirk discussing free speech in the United States.
“Here’s the ultimate irony, though. Charlie Kirk said, ‘Hate speech does not exist legally in America.’ By the way, I’ve always been on the same page,” he started, before continuing to read Kirk’s post. “‘Hate speech does not exist legally in America,’ says Charlie Kirk. ‘There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.’ Could you guys at least honor the person you’re insisting that we honor by honoring his words?”
Earlier in his monologue, Maher noted that he didn’t agree with Kimmel’s comments, but noted “he shouldn’t lose his job for it.” He also addressed the silence from The View panel on the matter.
“I gotta say, and I’m friendly with the ladies on The View, but they didn’t say anything about [Kimmel’s suspension] this week. Nothing,” he said. “You know, ’cause it’s never been their thing to weigh in on the issues. It’s just an upbeat party show, that’s why they hired people named Joy and Sunny and Whoopi.”
Maher continued, “Girls, go out strong, OK? It won’t kill you. I promise it’s happened to me, and I may go out after this show. We don’t know.” In tune with the heavy news cycle, he, too, tackled Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times that was dismissed on Friday.
“Now, Trump is going after The New York Times. He sued them for $15 billion. He said they’re a ‘mouthpiece of the Democratic Party.’ You know what, Don? They are. You’re right, and that’s their right to be that,” he said. “Like there’s not a thousand people on the right who are your mouthpiece. Okay, that’s how we work in this country.”
Maher’s take on the preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live! comes a day after many late night TV hosts — including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers — voiced their disapproval on the indefinite suspension. On Thursday night, most of the late night shows aired their first taped episode since ABC revealed their decision, where Colbert defended Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “pre-empted indefinitely” by ABC on Wednesday shortly after Nexstar released a statement noting they would not air the planned episode and would preempt the long-running talk show for the foreseeable future.
The backlash stemmed from Kimmel’s remarks about Tyler Robinson, the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Following Kimmel’s comments during his monologue, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr went on a podcast on Wednesday where he publicly spoke out against Kimmel and urged affiliates to “push back” on ABC. Later in the day, it was announced that Kimmel was suspended.
A source told The Hollywood Reporter Kimmel was planning to address the backlash on Wednesday night’s show, which was canceled. He prepared to explain what he said and how it was taken out of context. The source added that Kimmel did not intend to apologize.
David Letterman voiced his opinion on the suspension on Thursday during a panel at the Atlantic Festival. “I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”