Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher is making the news, but probably not in the way it wants. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, a guest that was booked for Maher’s show this Friday cancelled in protest of Real Time booking another guest — the controversial right-wing provocateur and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.
Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept, went to Twitter to explain his cancellation. According to Scahill, booking Yiannopoulos was “many bridges too far.” This isn’t the first time Yiannopoulos has faced protest. The outspoken and controversial writer, commentator, and YouTuber was scheduled to speak at UC Berkeley earlier this month. The event was cancelled when violent protests against Yiannopoulos prior to the event caused over $100,000 of damage. His upcoming book deal with Simon & Schuster, which is worth $250,000, has caused similar outrage in the publishing industry, causing Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay to pull from the publishing company in protest. However, Yiannopoulos is perhaps best known for relentlessly attacking Ghostbusters’ star Leslie Jones on Twitter last summer for her appearance and race. In a rare move, he was banned from the social media site. Needless to say, he is a very controversial figure.
During tonight’s episode of Real Time, Yiannopoulos is booked as the top-of-the-show interview. “He has ample venues to spew his hateful diatribes,” Scahill wrote on Twitter. “There is no value in debating him.” You can read his full statement below:
Bill Maher has defended the booking and responded to Scahill’s outrage. In his issued statement, the host specifically took issue with the accusation that Maher is anti-Islamic:
“My comments on Islam have never veered into vitriol,” Maher said according to EW. “Liberals will continue to lose elections as long as they follow the example of people like Mr. Scahill whose views veer into fantasy and away from bedrock liberal principles like equality of women, respect for minorities, separation of religion and state, and free speech. If Mr. Yiannopoulos is indeed the monster Scahill claims — and he might be — nothing could serve the liberal cause better than having him exposed on Friday night.”
Scahill has since been replaced on Real Time by MSNBC terrorism analyst Malcolm Nance. There’s been no word on whether Larry Wilmore or Jack Kingston will boycott. However, it looks as though it will be a surprisingly interesting episode of Real Time this week.
The much-discussed episode premieres on HBO and HBO NOW tonight, February 17 at 10 p.m. EP / 7 p.m. PT
