Bill Maher is no stranger to ruffling feathers, and he hasn’t been shy about sharing his opinion on how Jimmy Kimmel and others use political humor on their late-night talk shows. And while HBO’s Real Time host likely doesn’t apologize very often for his views, he did express regret for offending Kimmel and acknowledged that they “may never talk again” over things he’s said. Still, Maher told Adam Carolla, he still doesn’t think Kimmel is an “a--hole.”
On Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Jimmy Kimmel’s name came up as Maher welcomed Adam Carolla as his guest. Carolla is a longtime friend of Kimmel’s, as they used to co-host The Man Show on Comedy Central, and Maher acknowledged his supposed feud with Kimmel, telling his guest:
Jimmy Kimmel, you know, he’s very mad at me and I know you’re close to him. I hope you tell him that, you know, I’m sorry that, you know, it got bent out of shape. I don’t think I did anything wrong. We can have disagreements. I mean, you and I don’t agree on everything, look at this clash now, and yet we’re cool.
Bill Maher and Adam Carolla had started to butt heads during a conversation about white privilege, and the podcast host used that to bolster his argument that some people were willing to talk through issues they disagreed about, while he suggested Jimmy Kimmel was the type of person to reject anyone who wasn’t exactly aligned with him. Maher continued:
My tribe is supposed to be the left, but these are the people who just can’t talk to you unless you’re exactly there, whereas the Republicans, they always f---ing come to my show. John Kennedy from Louisiana was on last week, took his beating like a man, like they all do, and we came across lovingly and smilingly and happily and we can disagree. You and I aren’t always completely on the same page, although we’re very close because we’re both smart guys, but I just don’t get that from– and Jimmy, I’m sorry, like, I think this is one of the nicest guys.
Bill Maher admitted he “did a mea culpa” with Jimmy Kimmel over email, not over what Kimmel was upset about, Maher said, but about how he’s “a little brash” in his hosting style compared to Kimmel and the other current late night hosts. He said:
I don’t just buy into the left-wing bulls--t, and I never stop making fun of the right wing bulls--t at all! And like, if that’s not good enough for you, then I think you’re the a--hole, and I don’t think Jimmy is an a--hole, and it bugs me that because of what the latest thing was that, you know, we may never talk again.
As for what that “latest thing” was that made Jimmy Kimmel upset, Bill Maher didn’t specify, though Adam Carolla admitted he had heard about it, presumably from his Man Show co-host.
Back in September when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended by ABC for some of the host’s comments, Bill Maher said he was “forthright” in his support for Jimmy Kimmel, despite not agreeing with his sentiment. When Kimmel returned, he thanked a number of his fellow hosts, including some right-wing pundits who had spoken in his defense. Maher, however, was not mentioned.
In November of what was all-around a tumultuous year for Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Maher also called out the late-night host’s wife Molly McNearney for saying on a podcast that she’s lost relationships with family members over their support of Trump. On his show, Maher said at the time (via EW):
She says she’s lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with ten reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trump, and some still didn’t obey, so you know. Ultimatums. Ten reasons? I can think of 100. But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.
It’s certainly a touchy situation when you involve someone’s wife in your political commentary, regardless of how much you might align on other issues. Of course, we don’t know if it was Bill Maher’s reaction to Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC suspension that offended him, Maher’s comments about his wife or something else entirely. Either way, it doesn’t sound like these two will be making appearances on each other’s shows anytime soon.
You can stream Real Time with Bill Maher each Friday with an HBO Max subscription, or catch Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35 p.m. ET weeknights on ABC.
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