Writers Guild Blasts Bill Maher for Bringing Back ‘Real Time’ During Strike, Announces Plans to Picket Show

Katie Godowski/MediaPunch /IPX

Bill Maher will be returning to his HBO show Real Time without writers and the Writers Guild has blasted the host, vowing to picket his studio.

Maher made the announcement Wednesday, noting that the strike has gone on for too long and recognizing that much of his writing staff is now struggling “mightily.” The strike has lasted for over 130 days, beginning in May.

“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing. It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns,” Maher wrote on Twitter.

“Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily. We all were hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening. I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much,” he added.

Maher said the show will not feature many popular written segments that viewers love but instead will be focused on panel discussion.

“I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop. But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullshit and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will not disappoint,” Maher wrote.

On Thursday morning, Deadline published a statement from the WGA expressing their disappointment in Maher and their intention to picket the show.

“Bill Maher’s decision to go back on the air while his Guild is on strike is disappointing. If he goes forward with his plan, he needs to honor more than ‘the spirit of the strike’. Bill Maher is obligated as a WGA member to follow the strike rules and not perform any writing services. It is difficult to imagine how Real Time with Bill Maher can go forward without a violation of WGA strike rules taking place. WGA will be picketing this show,” the statement read.

Maher has previously been critical of the strike, calling some of the guilds demands “kooky.”

“It seems to be they have really morphed a long way from 2007 strike where they kind of believe that you’re owed a living as a writer and you’re not. This this is showbusiness. This is a make or miss league,” Maher said in a recent episode of his podcast, Club Random.

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