Bill Maher says Jimmy Kimmel is 'mad' at him for criticizing his wife over Trump remarks

WASHINGTON, DC: Bill Maher revealed that Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly McNearney, are furious at him after he criticized McNearney for revealing that she had lost relationships with family members who voted for Donald Trump.

During the Sunday, December 7 episode of his 'Club Random' podcast, Maher said, "I was as kid-gloved as I could," as he reflected on his earlier jab at McNearney for giving her relatives an "ultimatum" on 'Real Time With Bill Maher', and added, "I see they’re mad at me."

Bill Maher admits he has friends who 'didn't like what I said'

Bill Maher apologized while still defending his words and said, "I’m sorry. I mean, I was being, again, as respectful as I could, but I don’t agree with that point of view, and since she went public with it, it wasn’t out of school for me to go public with it."

He also admitted that he has friends who "didn’t like what I said," but stood firmly in his beliefs that cutting off relatives isn’t the path forward.

"I’m in the ‘talk to them’ wing of the Democratic Party, I’m not in the ‘cut your people off.’ Don’t cut them off," Maher mentioned.

He also added that he and Kimmel "weren’t close" before his remarks, but he liked "Jimmy a lot."

"I love Jimmy. I always have. I don’t know him that well, but he’s a great guy. And we have a connection, like we were both fired by ABC," Maher said. "I hope we’re friends forever. But I don’t know. You know, the liberals and the woke, that’s a schism. It just is."

Maher made the statements after McNearney's comments on the 'We Can Do Hard Things' podcast in November.

Molly McNearney says husband Jimmy Kimmel is 'fighting' Trump daily

During the podcast in November, McNearney expressed that her husband is "fighting" Trump daily, which complicated her relationships with family members who supported the president.

She added that she has "a little bit of sympathy" for people in her family who are "deliberately being misinformed every day," but now it feels personal.

"To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family and I unfortunately have kind of lost relationships with people in my family because of it," the television writer expressed. 

"This is not just Republican vs Democrat for me anymore, to me it’s family values," McNearney added, and noted that when she sees headlines about Trump now, it just makes her "mad at certain aunts, uncles, cousins who put him in power."

Moreover, she revealed that she sent emails to her family members before the election with a list of 10 reasons not to vote for Trump, but she was either ignored "or got truly insane responses."

"I’ve definitely pulled in closer with the family that I feel more aligned with. And I hate that this has happened. Part of me goes, 'Don’t let politics get in the way'. But to me, this isn’t politics. It’s truly values. And we’re just not aligned anymore," she shared.

Following this, Maher addressed the situation on his show, saying that while he had many issues with Trump himself, he didn’t agree with losing relationships with family members.

During the November 21 episode of 'Real Time with Bill Maher', the late-night host said, "Ten reasons? I can think of 100. But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you."