- Bill Maher defended Jimmy Kimmel on his show Real Time on Friday following ABC indefinitely suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live.
- ABC canceled Maher’s previous show, Politically Incorrect, in 2002 months after he made controversial comments about 9/11.
- Maher called on The View, which also airs on ABC, to “go out strong.”
Bill Maher is standing up for Jimmy Kimmel.
The Real Time host condemned ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely during Friday’s episode of his HBO talk show.
“Well, I guess you all heard Jimmy Kimmel, my friend, my compatriot, he’s canned by ABC for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin,” Maher began. “Right after the FCC guy, the head of the FCC, said he’s gonna revoke ABC’s license. Lemme just tell you something: I am not intimidated by the FCC. And if President Trump is watching, I have one thing to say to you: Have you lost weight? You look terrific.”
The host went on to observe an eerie connection: Live‘s suspension came on Sept. 17, exactly 24 years after Maher made comments about the 9/11 hijackers on his own ABC show, Politically Incorrect, that spawned a similar controversy, which the comedian thinks led to that show’s cancellation months later.
“Life is f—ing weird,” he said. “It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot. Did you know that? On Politically Incorrect. Oh yes! I got canceled before cancel even had a culture.”
Indeed, Jimmy Kimmel Live assumed ABC’s late-night spot during the week in 2003, the year after Maher’s show vacated that same time slot.
Maher’s controversial remarks came less than a week after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when he argued against the notion that the hijackers were “cowardly.”
“We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away,” Maher said of American foreign policy at the time. “That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building? Say what you want about it. Not cowardly.”
The show remained on the air for the remainder of the season, but numerous advertisers stopped supporting it, and its decline in ratings resulted in the show’s cancellation in June 2002. Additionally, just as in Kimmel’s case, numerous ABC affiliate stations dropped Politically Incorrect over objections to the host’s comments.
HBO
“This s— ain’t new. It’s worse, and we’ll get to that. But ABC, they are steady,” Maher said on Friday’s Real Time episode. “ABC stands for Always Be Caving. So, Jimmy, pal, I am with you, I support you, and on the bright side, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland. That was always the great part of it for me when I got my ass canned over there.”
Maher also called out another ABC show for remaining silent after Kimmel’s suspension.
“I gotta say, and I’m friendly with the ladies on The View, but they didn’t say anything about it,” Maher noted. “Nothing. You know, ’cause it’s never been their thing to weigh in on the issues. It’s just an upbeat party show! That’s why they hire people named Joy and Sunny and Whoopi.”
Disney/Randy Holmes
Maher then called on The View to stand their ground. “Girls, go out strong, okay?” he urged. “It won’t kill you. I promise you. It’s happened to me, and I may go out after this show. We don’t know.”
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The comedian concluded, “Jimmy, lemme just say, pal, you did a great, funny show for two decades. You should be proud of that. If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you’ll get 23 years on a better network.”
Watch Maher’s full monologue above.
