It really “bugs” Bill Maher that he and Jimmy Kimmel are no longer friends.
Maher slammed Kimmel’s wife, Jimmy Kimmel Live executive producer and co-head writer, Molly McNearney, in December for revealing that she’d lost family relationships over their MAGA politics. On Monday’s episode of his Club Random podcast, Maher revealed that Kimmel is still “very mad at me.”
“I know you’re close to him,” he told guest Adam Carolla, who spent years co-hosting The Man Show with Kimmel. “I hope you tell him that, you know, I’m sorry that he, they got bent out of shape. I don’t think I did anything wrong. We can have disagreements.”
Maher previously apologized for his comments about McNearney, who revealed on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast that she had fallen out with MAGA family members. “Them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” she explained, “and I unfortunately have kind of lost relationships with people in my family because of it.”
Maher said in response on Real Time at the 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.. I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.”
“I’m sorry. I mean, I was being, again, as respectful as I could, but I don’t agree with that point of view. Since she went public with it, it wasn’t out of school for me to go public with it,” he added.
Despite his strong position on the comments, he insisted Kimmel was the one in the wrong on Monday for not being friendly with him afterward. “My tribe is supposed to be the left, but these are the people who just can’t talk to you unless you’re exactly there,” he said.
“Jimmy, I’m sorry. I think this is one of the nicest guys. I did a mea culpa when we exchanged emails—not about what he was complaining about, but just saying, sometimes I am a little brash,” but didn’t get the response he was hoping for.
“When they compare me with the other late-night guys…I’m like, I’m not like you guys. I’m not. You could all exchange your monologues, all of you, and no one would know the difference in tone. Whereas me, I’m not there. I’m not in on your, I don’t just buy into the left-wing bulls--t.” He added, “I never stop making fun of the right-wing bulls--- at all.”
“If that’s not good enough for you, then I think you’re the a--hole,” Maher continued. “And I don’t think Jimmy is an a--hole. I think he’s a great guy. And it bugs me that, because of what the latest thing was, you know, we may never talk.”
