Bill Maher didn’t hold back on Friday night’s Real Time, dedicating his monologue and roundtable to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — a killing that’s rattled Washington and sparked a bitter debate about political violence.
“It’s a very ugly week in America with violence of all kinds: political violence, regular violence, a lot of people talking about a civil war,” Maher began his opening monologue. “And then today in Congress, because Charlie Kirk got assassinated, [Colorado Representative] Lauren Boebert stood up and said, ‘We need to have a prayer.’ So they started to have a silent prayer. And then she started screaming, ‘No! Silent prayers get silent results.’ As if praying out loud gets big results. Then the Democrats started screaming at her that there was a school shooting in her state. I tell you, so far, the civil war is not very civil.”
Maher also took aim at Donald Trump’s comments in the wake of Kirk’s death. “Today, they asked the President, ‘What are you going to do to bring the country together?’ And he said, ‘I know this is going to get me in trouble, but I could care less,’” Maher said, drawing laughs. “He’s a different kind of cat. His message is, ‘Let the healing stop.’”
Later, Maher welcomed Ben Shapiro and Tim Alberta for a tense panel. Shapiro pointed to polling that showed “only 57% of Gen Z say there is no excuse for violence in response to speech.” He added, “There are at least 42% that believe that there are some times that the violence ought to be a response to speech, which is deeply terrifying.”
Alberta, who called himself a “sparring partner from a distance” to Kirk, said the reaction has been troubling. “The response to this has not been shock and horror … If anything, it seems as though, particularly to Ben’s point among younger voters, that this is becoming mainstreamed and becoming acceptable.”
Maher, meanwhile, blamed “the cancer” of social media for fueling the divide. “The only way this starts to get better is if both sides admit, ‘Okay, let’s not have this debate about who started it … plainly, both sides do it now. And the right has done it too. A lot.’”
When Shapiro cited reporting suggesting the suspected shooter leaned left, Maher wasn’t having it. “It’s two days out. We don’t know shit. The internet is undefeated in getting it wrong to begin with.”
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Wednesday during a debate at Utah Valley University. A suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested Friday following a manhunt, Trump confirmed on Fox News.
Maher noted that Kirk had even appeared on his Club Random podcast earlier this year — a reminder of how quickly political combat can turn fatal.
Friday’s episode also featured Charlie Sheen alongside Shapiro and Alberta.