Bill Maher Reveals Jimmy Kimmel is ‘Very Mad’ at Him, Blames Politics for Rift: ‘It Bugs Me’

Bill Maher revealed that he has an ongoing feud with Jimmy Kimmel.

Speaking on his Club Random show to comedian Adam Carolla — who previously hosted The Man Show with Kimmel from 1999 to 2004 — Maher, 70, admitted that Kimmel, 58, is angry with him, but never specified why.

“Jimmy Kimmel, you know, he’s very mad at me and I know you’re close to him,” the Real Time host told his guest on Monday, February 9. “I hope you tell him that I’m sorry that it got bent out of shape. I don’t think I did anything wrong. We can have disagreements. I mean, you and I don’t agree on everything, look at this clash now, and yet we’re cool.”

According to Maher, politics played a part in the disagreement between them.

“The Republicans are always this sort of difference between the right and the left. It bugs me so much,” he said. “My tribe is supposed to be the left, but these are the people who just can’t talk to you unless you’re exactly there, whereas the Republicans, they always f**king come to my show.”

Noting that he exchanged emails with Kimmel in an effort to patch things up, Maher explained he shared a “mea culpa” with the late-night host but “not about what he was complaining about.” Instead, Maher seemingly apologized for being “brash” when being compared to other traditional late night hosts.

“You could all exchange your monologues and no one would know the difference in tone,” he alleged. “Whereas me, I’m not there. I don’t just buy into the left wing bulls**t.”

“I never stop making fun of the right-wing bullshit at all!” Maher continued. “And like, if that’s not good enough for you, then I think you’re the a**hole, and I don’t think Jimmy is an a**hole… I think he’s a great guy, and it bugs me that, you know, because of what the latest thing was, that, you know, we may never talk again.”

Maher never elaborated on what initially caused the rift with Kimmel. However, Variety pointed out in a story published on February 9 that Maher previously criticized Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney, after she publicly stated that she has cut ties with family members who support President Donald Trump in November. The politician, 79, has been known to publicly go after Kimmel.

Maher previously touched on McNeary’s stance during an episode of Real Time in November. “She says she’s lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with ten reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trump, and some still didn’t obey, so you know,” Maher said at the time. “Ultimatums. Ten reasons? I can think of 100,” he shared. “But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.”