HBO/Janet Van Ham(LOS ANGELES) — Friday’s episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher has just lost one of its guests.
A spokesperson for Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, confirmed to the Huffington Post that he won’t be appearing on the upcoming episode of the show. On last Friday’s show, Maher used the “n-word” while making a joke, then apologized following an outcry on social media.
The spokesperson for Franken, himself a former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member, told HuffPost, “Senator Franken believes that what Bill Maher said was inappropriate and offensive, which is why he made the decision not to appear…he was glad to see Bill, who the Senator considers to be a good friend, apologize and express sincere regret for his comment.”
HBO has said it won’t fire Maher over his use of the racial slur, as some people have called for the cable channel to do.
Incidentally, this is the second comedian controversy to which Sen.
Franken had to react: after initially defending Kathy Griffin in the wake of her “decapitation” video of an effigy of President Trump, outcry forced Franken to reverse course, and announce he would not appear with her at a scheduled appearance in July.
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