Bill Maher backs Jimmy Kimmel in fiery late-night monologue
Bill Maher has voiced his opinions on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live, recalling his own suspension over two decades ago by the very same network.
Taking to his Real Time with Bill Maher talk show, the comedian and comentator began with comedy, stating, “I know why you’re happy tonight: I’m still on.”
He added, “Talk show hosts are going down like Blockbusters in the ’90s … Let me 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.”
He quickly distanced himself from that form of sychophancy, before musing, “No, that’s not me, and never will be, but life is fucking weird. It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me cancelled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot at Politically Incorrect. I got cancelled before cancel even had a culture.”
Maher refers to comments he made following 9/11, whereby he disagreed that perpetrators were “cowards” and argued instead that the US was cowardly for “lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away.” As a consequence, Meher was pulled, and Kimmel was brought in.
Now, Kimmel was the one who found himself suspended, in response to the comedian’s reaction to the response from Donald Trump supporters to Kirk’s passing: “The MAGA Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Among other comments, Kimmel also condemned Trump’s personal reaction to Kirk’s death, saying, “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.” ABC labelled his comments “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
Maher addressed the network behind the removal, adding, “This sh– ain’t new; it’s worse, we’ll get to that, but ABC, they are steady. 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.”
Maher did admit that he didn’t think Kimmel was “exactly right,” but he certainly “doesn’t deserve to lose his job over it.” He also said, “It’s a fool’s errand to try to say that these nuts who do these things are any ‘team’ … This kid is in his basement with VR goggles on, getting virtually ass-f—ed by a cartoon wombat and you’re gonna put politics into this? This kid doesn’t belong in either party, he belongs in a straitjacket.”
David Letterman has also expressed his solidarity with Kimmel, stating, “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian, a criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.” He received a huge round of applause from the audience.
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