All posts tagged: Bill Maher

Bill Maher Says President Trump Tried to Block Kennedy Center Honor

Bill Maher Says President Trump Tried to Block Kennedy Center Honor

Published by Daniella Wilson

After a confusing swirl that included “fake news” denials from the White House communications team, Bill Maher offered some clarity about being picked to receive the 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center. The veteran host leaned into this week’s big news during Friday night’s episode of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO Max by addressing it in the opening minutes of his monologue as he recognized there’s been “a lot of back and forth” about whether or not he was actually going to get it. “We have reached a compromise. The compromise is that I am going to get it and then I’m going to give it to [President Donald Trump],” he joked. “Everybody’s happy. I just want things to work out.” Looks like they are now after the Kennedy Center confirmed Thursday that Maher would receive the 27th Mark Twain Prize for Humor at a ceremony scheduled for June 28 (and streaming on Netflix at a later date). The honor “recognizes individuals who have had an impact on …

Council on American-Islamic Relations Speaks Out On Bill Maher

Council on American-Islamic Relations Speaks Out On Bill Maher

Published by Daniella Wilson

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the selection of Bill Maher for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor given his support for Israel. “The Kennedy Center‘s decision to give this prestigious award to Bill Maher highlights the glaring double standards surrounding bigotry and violence that exist in our society,” CAIR, a prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said in a statement.   “Mr. Maher would have never received this recognition if he were an antisemitic comedian who supported terrorism against Jewish-Americans or Israelis, but his open bigotry against Muslims and support for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza are somehow perfectly acceptable,” the statement continues.  “Until our society rejects all forms of hate and all forms of violence against innocent people as wrong, regardless of the victim, hypocrisy and inconsistency will continue to undermine the reputation of institutions like the Kennedy Center,” the organization added. A publicist for Maher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  While CAIR did not single out specific statements Maher has made, the host has expressed a …

White House Rescinded Mark Twain Prize for Bill Maher

White House Rescinded Mark Twain Prize for Bill Maher

Published by Daniella Wilson

Breaking news: HBO‘s Real Time host Bill Maher will not be receiving this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the prestigious comedy award handed out each year by The Kennedy Center. However, The Atlantic reports that Maher was offered the award from the institution now called the Trump Kennedy Center … before the White House intervened to stop it. “This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hollywood Reporter. The Mark Twain Prize has been awarded since 1998 (last year’s honoree was Conan O’Brien, shortly after President Trump installed his own board of directors and a new director in Ric Grenell). Grenell has since left the institution, which will also close for two years to undergo extensive renovations. Maher would not be out of place as an honoree (past recipients included Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Tina Fey, and Kevin Hart, among many others), except for his on again, off again feud with President Trump, who has taken an interest in the recipients …

White House Rescinded Mark Twain Prize for Bill Maher

Bill Maher Reacts to Trump Criticism, Lists Successes, Failures

Published by Daniella Wilson

Nearly three weeks after Donald Trump spent part of his Valentine’s Day lashing out at Bill Maher, claiming that he wasted his time having dinner with the Real Time host last year, Maher offered a detailed rebuttal, complete with clips, of just where he stands with the president, revealing that he has both criticized and praised him. At the end of his “New Rules” segment, Maher said that despite what the president wrote on Truth Social, he doesn’t “suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Instead, the comedian says, the president, who has continued to post to social media about Maher as recently as Friday amid an ongoing conflict with Iran, has “Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome.” First Maher corrected some facts from Trump’s Truth Social post about the dinner, noting he didn’t ask for it, he was invited by their mutual friend, Kid Rock, on his podcast, and that he “had a drink before dinner and then a couple more during.” “I was having a good time,” he said. “So were you, Don, because we were talking …

White House Rescinded Mark Twain Prize for Bill Maher

Trump Says Maher Dinner Was Waste, Compares to Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert

Published by Daniella Wilson

Donald Trump is firing back against Bill Maher, seemingly after he shared some critics of the president on Friday’s episode of Real Time. Trump took to Truth Social Saturday to claim that he wasted time having dinner with the television host at the end of March 2025. He specifically referenced a moment during Maher’s most recent show where he slammed the president for his Monday post where he argued that China will “terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada.” “Sometimes in life you waste time! T.V. Host Bill Maher asked to have dinner with me through one of his friends, also a friend of mine, and I agreed. He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,” Trump began in his new post. “He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself and, to soothe his nerves, immediately, within seconds, asked for a ‘Vodka Tonic.’ He said to me, ‘I’ve never felt like this before, I’m actually scared.’ In one respect, it was somewhat endearing!” He continued, “Anyway, …

Bill Maher Tells Celebs to ‘Shut Up’ on Politics, Hurting Democrats

Bill Maher Tells Celebs to ‘Shut Up’ on Politics, Hurting Democrats

Published by Daniella Wilson

Bill Maher is blaming Hollywood — again — for the faltering Democratic Party, telling California’s new daily newspaper in an interview centered on the current political climate that it’s time for Tinseltown’s politically outspoken elite to “shut the fuck up.” Maher, who celebrated his 70th birthday last week, has been a party-agnostic political comic and agitator for decades. He hosted HBO’s late-night, half-hour political talk show Politically Incorrect from 1993 to 2002 and the cable channel’s political panel show, Real Time with Bill Maher, from 2003. As a resident of Beverly Hills who frequently brings actors, filmmakers and other key industry players onto his show, the comic has a front-row seat to Hollywood’s happenings and says it’s time for celebrities to step back if they want Democrats to oust Republicans. “Hollywood [is] sort of the epicenter of the woke left. I don’t think they’re doing the Democratic Party any favors,” he told new New York Post offshoot The California Post. “I think if Democrats want to win elections in the future, job one: Tell the …