Bill Maher Tells New HBO Owners: Don't Believe Trump's Posts About Me
Bill Maher opened Friday's Real Time with a message for his new bosses: don't believe what Donald Trump posts about him.
"Whoever owns me now, don't believe what Trump is tweeting about me," Maher said in his opening monologue, as reported by Deadline. He was pleading directly to the Ellisons, the family behind the new ownership of HBO.
He was joking. Mostly. "The merger went through. Paramount now owns Warner Discovery, which owns HBO, which owns my ass," Maher said.
The deal behind the jokes is large. On Wednesday, a federal judge cleared the $110 billion Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to close, after approving a settlement with state attorneys general who had filed an antitrust lawsuit to block it, meaning a legal challenge over competition, according to Deadline.
On Friday, chief executive David Ellison said the combined organisation will be known as Skydance, with Paramount and Warner Bros. remaining as individual entities. The closing was also covered by TheWrap, in a report credited to Alyssa Ray.
Maher then turned to Trump's recent criticism. He said Trump had claimed this weekend that his ratings are so low, "it's just sad."
His reply was blunt. "Your insults don't bother me. Make up whatever shit you want about me, just don't mention I went to Cornell," Maher said.
For viewers who do not follow the corporate chart, Real Time with Bill Maher is HBO's late-night talk and comedy series. It mixes an opening monologue, one-on-one interviews and a roundtable discussion, plus a closing segment called New Rules, according to HBO.
The Trump-Maher exchanges have run for some time. In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump said Maher had asked to have dinner with him through a mutual friend and that he had agreed.
What makes this stand out is the timing. A host known for needling presidents used his first show under new ownership to needle the president and reassure the owners in the same breath.
