Bill’s show continued to air for about 9 months after his politically incorrect statements a couple of weeks after 9/11:
one of Maher's guests, Dinesh D'Souza, said "These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so - I mean, I'm all for understanding the sociological causes of this, but we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn't blame themselves because other people want to bomb them."[5] Maher agreed, and replied: "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, [it's] not cowardly."[1] Similar comments were made by others in other media.[1]
Advertisers withdrew their support, and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily.[1] White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."[6] Maher apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers.
He lost advertising but ABC kept it on air. He was getting awards and nominations as well.
He is now one of the world’s foremost Islamaphobes.
But people are complicated. In a cause dear to my heart, he has been a sheer force of nature in his opposition to vivisection.
Bill Mahr got fired from ABC for the same reason.
Phil was fired immediately.
Bill’s show continued to air for about 9 months after his politically incorrect statements a couple of weeks after 9/11:
one of Maher's guests, Dinesh D'Souza, said "These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so - I mean, I'm all for understanding the sociological causes of this, but we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn't blame themselves because other people want to bomb them."[5] Maher agreed, and replied: "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, [it's] not cowardly."[1] Similar comments were made by others in other media.[1]
Advertisers withdrew their support, and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily.[1] White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."[6] Maher apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers.
He lost advertising but ABC kept it on air. He was getting awards and nominations as well.
He is now one of the world’s foremost Islamaphobes.
But people are complicated. In a cause dear to my heart, he has been a sheer force of nature in his opposition to vivisection.