Bill Maher’s appearance on NPR’s Newsmakers podcast took an uncomfortable turn this week when the veteran liberal commentator accused the public radio network of drifting into what he called the “extreme-left.”
Maher, 70, joined NPR host Steve Inskeep for the Wednesday interview.
“Your audience is gonna love this, by the way,” Maher said at one point, moments after criticizing progressives who he said had backed Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Inskeep, 58, pushed back gently. “The audience is a little more diverse than you might think,” he replied.
Maher sounded unconvinced. “Really?” he said, before adding, “I mean, I’m surprised you even had me on.” Inskeep responded with a laugh.
The exchange then turned more serious, with Maher saying he believes NPR is no longer the institution he once recognized. “Because I just — I just think of this place as so different than what it used to be,” he said, arguing that too many people now refuse to “engage” with views they oppose.
“You can hate me, whatever, for whatever your reasons. You know, ‘I’m too old. I’m’ — whatever I am,” Maher continued. “Are you engaging with the argument?”
“Tell me if I’m wrong about something. And then we’re gonna be cool,” he said. “But that’s not what either extreme does in this country anymore.”
Bill Maher, 70, sat with NPR’s Steve Inskeep for the Wednesday interview.
Inskeep stopped to gather himself at a point after the HBO star poked fun at those who refuse to ‘engage’ with opposing arguments
‘And maybe I’m wrong, but I think of this place as, like, on the far extreme of the left,’ he said.
The statement was met with a seconds-long lull.
‘Well, maybe-,’ Inskeep began, as Maher disclaimed: ‘But I could be wrong.’
‘Yeah. Maybe,’ Inskeep said. ‘Maybe there’s a little more variety in who we talk to than you might’ve been told.’
Maher, however, was unconvinced.
‘Who you talk to is different than, like, what people believe.’
The Real Time star seemed to suggest NPR was purposely packaging progressive ideals in its news coverage.
‘You know, are there beliefs that the audience can… examine [and] say, “Oh, you know, I think that’s a good point, maybe.” Or is it just like, “no… it does not conform to the one true opinion,”‘ Maher said.
Maher said he saw NPR as indicative of this divide, all the way on the ‘extreme-left’
As he continued, Inskeep cut in, seemingly eager to move on.
‘Well, I’m with you. We want to hear all kinds of people, and we go out of our way to do it,’ he said.
‘Great,’ answered Maher, curtly.
At another point, Maher chided news outlets in general for focusing on matters like the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and failing to ‘care about what’s important.’
‘The politicization of the Justice Department, DOGE, ICE, corruption, you know, lots of things,’ he listed.
‘And even stuff where it was not a bad idea, but they screwed up the execution like the Iran war.’
‘I mean, DOGE, ICE, all these things that they could have done better and they just can’t help themselves,’ Maher continued.
‘This is a country where people get drunk with power when they get in. Happens to the Democrats to a degree, too.’
Maher has soured on the Democratic party for more than a year now, after admittedly voting for Kamala Harris in 2024.
He told rapper will.i.am in May that ‘ironically’ it was ‘mostly Democrats’ who refused requests to appear on his HBO show, before making a point starkly similar to the one he made to Inskeep.
‘Like, because they’re such p*****s. Democrats are p*****s about going anywhere that they’re not already pre-adored,’ he said at the time.
‘Like I always say to my woke friends, “we voted for the same person,”‘ he said. ‘You’re just why she lost.’
In June, Maher raised eyebrows by maintaining he ‘never was a Democrat to begin with’ but only votes Democrat. He has long been considered a progressive but has since voiced opposition to several Democratic Socialists.
This all comes after Congress’ successful vote last year to claw back an eye-watering $1.1 billion it already had committed to public media via a bill titled ‘No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act’ (the NPR and PBS Act).
Months before, representatives grilled NPR CEO Katherine Maher about the disparity in political affiliations at NPR after filings revealed not a single staffer at the station was a registered Republican. Eighty-seven were Democrats.
‘Congressman – I do not believe we are politically biased. No, we are a nonpartisan organization,’ Maher said in March 2025, while conceding the numbers were startling ‘if true.’
The CEO maintained the decision to do away with federal funding for the station was politically motivated. She said rural communities that rely on NPR’s local stations saw most of the federal money.
Federal funding, meanwhile, only accounted for about 1 percent of NPR’s annual revenue.
