Bill Maher stepped in to fact-check Kid Rock live on Friday’s episode of “Real Time” after the musician compared Michigan candidate Abdul El-Sayed to the 9/11 hijackers on air. The heated panel moment came during the October 30 episode featuring a sit-down interview with Republican Senator Ted Cruz and a panel of Kid Rock and Axios CEO Jim VandeHei.
Bill Maher and Kid Rock (Credits: HBO)
What Kid Rock Said About Abdul El-Sayed on Real Time
Kid Rock’s comment tied El-Sayed to the inflammatory “America deserved 9/11” line — but Maher pushed back, noting the record does not support the comparison. Fact-checkers across the spectrum have traced that sentence to streamer Hasan Piker’s 2019 livestream, not to El-Sayed, who has publicly disavowed the remark and said plainly that “America didn’t deserve 9/11.” Piker himself has called his old statement “dumb,” and El-Sayed has repeatedly said he should be judged on his own words and record, not on the streamer’s.
The exchange was one of several fiery moments on the night. Maher opened the show by addressing former President Trump’s 1,300-word social media tirade against him following their second White House dinner earlier this month — a rant in which Trump called Maher a “complete and total loser,” claimed the comedian called him incessantly, and compared notes on their latest meeting with Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock in attendance.
Maher Compares Trump to Taylor Swift After 1,300-Word Rant
Maher met the rant with jokes, comparing the president to Taylor Swift: “dining at the White House is the opposite of the Cheesecake Factory. After you leave, they review you.” He fact-checked Trump’s digs, noting it annoys him that the president “doesn’t even notice what I actually say,” and hit back at the claim he invited himself to the dinner: “As if you could do that.”
Maher has said he enjoys the White House dinners as a chance to tell the president “the things you write in articles that he’ll never read,” and gave himself an “A+” for bringing Stephen A. Smith along. But Friday’s loudest fireworks belonged to the Kid Rock exchange — another reminder that “Real Time” remains one of the few shows where guests from opposite poles actually have to answer for what they say.
Also Read: Bill Maher Fires Back at Trump’s 1,300-Word Rant: ‘Eating With Trump Is Like Dating Taylor Swift’ · Trump Calls Bill Maher a ‘Complete and Total Loser,’ Tells Him ‘Don’t Call Anymore’ in Lengthy Truth Social Post
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
