Bill Maher opens up about Jimmy Kimmel rift: “Tell him that I’m sorry”
Bill Maher has opened up about his falling out with Jimmy Kimmel, revealing that a disagreement late last year has led to a seemingly insurmountable rift in their friendship.
Speaking newly on the Club Random cast alongside guest Adam Carolla, Maher’s friendship with Kimmel came into conversation. Carolla co-hosted The Man Show with Kimmel from 1999 to 2004.
Referencing this, Maher admitted, “Jimmy Kimmel, you know, he’s very mad at me and I know you’re close to him.”
He added, “I hope you tell him that I’m sorry that it got bent out of shape. I don’t think I did anything wrong. We can have disagreements. I mean, you and I don’t agree on everything — look at this clash now — and yet we’re cool.”
This rift centres on a comment Maher made about Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney, co-head writer and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
As per The Hollywood Reporter, in November last year, McNearney admitted that she had fallen out with family members who voted for Donald Trump in the 2025 Presidential Election.
Famously, Kimmel and Trump are embroiled in near-constant fighting, as Kimmel uses his monologue segments to raise awareness of Trump’s latest dealings; this even got his show taken off air last year for comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
As such, McNearney’s family relations suffered. “To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” she said. “And I, unfortunately, have kind of lost relationships with people in my family because of it.”
In December, Maher publicly criticised her for this, sharing on an episode of Real Time: “She says she’s lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with 10 reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trump, and some still didn’t obey — so, you know, ultimatums. Ten reasons? I can think of 100.”
He went on, “But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.”
Maher has since reflected on the pair being angry at him for this stance, sharing on Club Random: “I was as kid-gloved as I could. And I see they’re mad at me. 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.”
Maher wants no bad blood with the talk-show host: “I love Jimmy. I always have. I don’t know him that well, but he’s a great guy… 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.”
Maher lamented: “I think he’s a great guy. And it bugs me that — because of what the latest thing was — we may never talk again.”
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