Progressives Label Bill Maher ‘Right Wing’ After CNN Adds Him to Friday Night Programming

Progressives Label Bill Maher ‘Right Wing’ After CNN Adds Him to Friday Night Programming

Have you heard that Bill Maher is right wing now? That’s the charge some progressives in media have been making now that CNN has announced that they are adding Maher to their Friday night lineup.

The Hollywood Reporter covered the move:

CNN Adds Bill Maher’s ‘Overtime’ to Friday Night Lineup

Bill Maher is coming to CNN.

The host of HBO’s weekly late night series Real Time will bring his Overtime segments to the cable news channel beginning Friday, Feb. 3.

Overtime will air on CNN at 11:30 p.m. on Friday nights, after new episodes of Real Time debut on HBO on Fridays at 10 p.m.

Maher has been producing Overtime segments for years. An offshoot of the HBO show, the segments feature Maher and his panel of guests continuing to discuss newsy topics. The segment previously only streamed online. With the CNN deal, it will now also get a linear basic cable home.

The Maher move is also another example of Warner Bros. Discovery looking for ways to share programming even as it continues to shave off costs. Already some CNN programming has found its way to HBO Max and Discovery+, while CNN has hosted guests from other parts of the corporate empire (like chef Bobby Flay, who talked inflation and soaring food costs on a live segment).

Maher sometimes clashes with the woke left. For some people, that makes him a conservative.

FOX News reported:

Bill Maher trends on Twitter after getting slammed for being too ‘right-wing’: ‘That smug face’

The left on Twitter came out in force against comedian Bill Maher Tuesday, arguing that he was a “right-wing” culture warrior who made racist comments against minorities and had a “smug face,” to boot.

“Bill Maher” trended Tuesday morning on the social media platform after CNN announced that Maher’s post-show segment, “Overtime,” will air on Friday’s during “CNN Tonight.”

But even before Maher’s deal with CNN became public, the comedian was already a punching bag for some on the left after he came out against “woke” education and accused environmentalist celebrities of hypocrisy.

Leftist and “Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur claimed that Maher was a culture warrior for the political right.

“Bill Maher is actually perfect for CNN to be honest. False equivalencies, propping up right-wing culture war talking points, fighting for the status quo and that smug face. [Jake] Tapper might get jealous because he might be outsmugged.”

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan depicted Maher as a racist.

Do these folks even hear themselves?

Bill Maher is actually perfect for CNN to be honest. False equivalencies, propping up right-wing culture war talking points, fighting for the status quo and that smug face. Tapper might get jealous because he might be outsmugged.

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) January 30, 2023

To be clear: I'm not saying no one is ever 'canceled' or that there's no censorship; I'm saying that the right-wing, reactionary white men who shout loudest about it almost always seem to do fine themselves.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 30, 2023

This handy chart explains so much:

Never thought I would see CNN and Bill Maher being called right wing. But here we are. With proof that attached meme is on point! https://t.co/DdwHZF4HVf pic.twitter.com/RADpDLYHhs

— Phyxx (@phyxx) January 31, 2023

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