Talk show host Bill Maher isn’t bringing his show Real Time with Bill Maher back early after all, announcing he is delaying a proposed return to air. Maher, like Jennifer Hudson and Drew Barrymore — who also planned to come back and reversed their decisions — was subject to fierce criticism after he announced he was returning despite the ongoing WGA strike.
Maher had suggested his return would offer a chiseled and reduced product — sans monologue and other features that relied on unionized writers — and that this would, he contended, “honor the spirt of the strike” while also bringing back his show to assuage the “issues, problems, and concerns” of non-writers caught up in the showdown.
Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing. It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people…
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 14, 2023
Maher claimed to see little other choice because “it has been five months…and there still seems to be nothing happening.”
[NOTE: The WGA, not having carved out a special lane for those who wished to honor the “spirit” of the strike, objected, saying: “As a WGA member, Bill Maher is obligated to follow the strike rules and not perform any writing services. It is difficult to imagine how Real Time can go forward without a violation of WGA strike rules taking place.”]
But Maher reversed course this week, opting to wait it out upon allegedly seeing good news in the forecast.
While names as big as Elon Musk encouraged Maher’s strike-breaking and positioned it as an opportunity (he suggested Maher move to Twitter like Tucker Carlson), others ripped into Maher’s plans. Despite the blowback, criticism didn’t come up as a part of the reason for his change of mind.
Maybe worth posting some material on this platform. The reach is enormous.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 14, 2023
Maher didn’t acknowledge criticism — the comments are rife with “scab” name calling — but rather he cited a perception of significant progress in the negotiations for his switch. “Now that both sides have agreed to go back to the negotiating table,” Maher said, “I’m going to delay the return of Real Time, for now, and hope they can finally get this done.”
This makes him Maher’s capitulation unlike that of Drew Barrymore, who expressed regret and acknowledged the criticism as a factor in driving her reversal. Maher’s discussion with comedian Jim Gaffigan below reveals a lot of his thinking about the strike.
I think you made it quite clear last week that you're not sympathizing with the important issues facing writers. 🤥pic.twitter.com/SUVY9k2p63
— Scott ❝X❞ (@bullriders1) September 14, 2023
