Bill Maher Defends Bashing Jimmy Kimmel’s Wife for Trump Ultimatum to Her Family: ‘They’re Mad at Me’
Comedian Bill Maher defended bashing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s wife for sending her family a pre-election “ultimatum,” warning relatives not to vote for President Donald Trump, and lamented that Kimmel being “mad” at him was proof of a liberal-woke “schism” in the Democratic Party.
Maher had mocked Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney, on HBO’s Real Time on November 21 after she disclosed on a podcast that she had severed ties with members of her family over their support for the president. McNearney, who works as a co-head writer and executive producer of her husband’s ABC show, also revealed that she had warned family members that a vote for Trump felt like a vote against her family.
At the time, Maher said he could list “100” reasons not to vote for Trump but would “never present it” as an ultimatum. Instead, he urged Democrats to examine why “77 million Americans didn’t want to trust you with taking power.”
Reflecting on the fallout on Sunday, Maher told pundit Ana Kasparian during a sit-down on his own Club Random Podcast that Kimmel and his wife were angry at him, for which he apologized before doubling down on his stance.
“I’m in the ‘talk to them’ wing of the Democratic Party, I’m not in the ‘cut your people off’ [side]. Don’t cut them off. And you know, I have friends who, you know, are not on that side of it and didn’t like what I said and and –” Maher began.
“Have they cut you off?” Kasparian asked.
Maher continued: “Well, it’s such an interesting issue. [It’s] one relationship that’s in the balance. I mean, you know –”
“That’s not a real friend,” his guest returned.
“Well, I mean, we weren’t close. I mean, I’m talking like it was Jimmy Kimmel. I mean, I said it publicly and I like Jimmy a lot and his wife wrote that thing that said, you know, she did lose family members. She wrote them before the election and said, ‘Here’s 10 reasons why you just can’t vote for Trump.’ And then some of them, you know, just didn’t follow that,” Maher explained.
Rounding on his Real Time jibe, he continued: “And I was as kid-gloved as I could. And I see they’re mad at me. And, uh, I’m sorry. I mean, I was being, again, as respectful as I could, but I don’t agree with that point of view. And since she went public with it, it wasn’t out of school for me to go public with it. I love Jimmy. I’ve always have. I don’t know him that well, but he’s a great guy.”
He added soon after: “I hope we’re friends forever, but I don’t know. You know, the liberals and the woke, that’s a schism. It just is.”
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