Al Franken Cancels Plans to Appear on Real Time After Bill Maher’s N-Word Flap

As Bill Maher continues to take flak for saying a racial slur on TV, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has confirmed that he’s nixing his plans to appear on the next episode of Real Time.

Huffington Post reach out to Franken’s office to see if he would still join Maher despite his controversial conversation with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). While Maher has apologized for the incident, Franken’s spokesperson said that the appearance is a no-go:

“Senator Franken believes that what Bill Maher said was inappropriate and offensive, which is why he made the decision not to appear on the next episode of ‘Real Time’…He was glad to see Bill, who the Senator considers to be a good friend, apologize and express sincere regret for his comment.”

New York Times‘ Dave Itzkoff corroborated HuffPost’s story:

A spokesman for Senator @alfranken confirms he will not appear on Real Time With Bill Maher this Friday as originally scheduled. pic.twitter.com/OikW459vym

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) June 5, 2017

Rapper Ice Cube, Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) Democratic strategist Symone Sanders, and political analyst David Gregory are all expected to appear on the next Real Time, per HuffPost.

The Minnesota Democrat previously appeared on Real Time in October and February.

In a separate anecdote, Franken recently cancelled an event with Kathy Griffin as the comedienne took flak over her controversial photoshoot with President Trump‘s bloody, decapitated head.

[Image via screengrab]

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