HBO’s Bill Maher attacked his former ABC bosses on Friday’s Real Time for suspending his replacement, Jimmy Kimmel. According to Maher, Kimmel was wrong in what he said, but he has a right to say it, and ABC’s suspension means the network stands for “Always Be Caving.” While Maher’s position may seem like a consistent and principled stand in favor of free speech, he got a couple key details wrong.
Maher began by expressing his solidarity with Kimmel, “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? Politically Incorrect? Oh yes, I got canceled before cancel even had a culture. So, do headlines. Yeah, this is on my wall. From the Variety, ‘White House keeps heat on ABC’s Maher.’ This shit isn't new. It’s worse. We’ll get to that.”
That is a reference to September 17, 2001’s Politically Incorrect, where Maher declared, “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, not cowardly.”
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