Bill Maher admitted that he might “drink a little bit more than usual” during his latest Club Random podcast episode because he was taping on the day of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“This is a s–t day, because a guy who sat there, Charlie Kirk, got shot today, and I can’t stop thinking about it,” Maher said, as his guest, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan chimed in, “Neither can I.”
“And if you’re on the other side of the political divide and you don’t care because the wrong team’s guy got shot, f— you,” Maher added. “You’re what’s wrong with this country!”
Maher taped his new podcast episode before Friday’s edition of Real Time on HBO, during which he struck a mostly somber tone about Kirk’s death—while also taking a moment to shut down his right-wing guest, Ben Shapiro, for assuming the shooter was a leftist.
“It’s two days out. We don’t know s–t, Ben. They never do. The internet is undefeated in getting it wrong to begin with,” Maher told Shapiro.
Maher’s emotions were more raw on the podcast as he recalled Kirk sitting in that same studio just five months earlier. In that interview, the two men bonded over their “anti-woke” ideology, with Kirk telling Maher, “You had more moral courage than pastors that I know that went along with the woke crazy train. And you deserve credit for that because it was of high cost.”
“Charlie Kirk and I certainly didn’t agree on much politically, but he sat here, he’s a human being, he’s not a monster,” Maher said. “And I liked him. I like them all. They’re all nice people when you meet them in person… Nobody’s as crazy as they make them out to be.”
Maher added that “we’re never going to solve this unless it begins with both sides agreeing that we both do it,” referring to the type of political violence that has been on the rise in the United States.
Of course, that is not that point President Donald Trump made when he posted a video address to the nation shortly after Kirk’s killing. Instead, Trump blamed the “radical left” alone for inspiring the shooter before he had been identified.
Later in the podcast episode, Maher again defended his sit-down with Kirk before pivoting to go after those who criticized him for meeting with Trump at the White House.
“And for all those a–holes who are like, you know, ‘I can’t believe you talk to Trump,’ OK, I’m not even going to go into why that’s such a stupid opinion, but just where does it end? All right, I can’t talk to him. Who’s next? People who voted for him? Can I not talk to Joe Rogan?” Maher asked. “What about Sylvester Stallone? He’s such a great guy. Stallone, Rocky—really? I can’t talk to him? F— off with this bulls–t!”
The post Bill Maher Goes Off on Charlie Kirk’s Detractors appeared first on The Daily Beast.
