After a confusing whirlwind that included denials of “fake news” from the White House communications team, Bill Maher has provided some clarity about his selection to receive the Kennedy Center’s 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The veteran host addressed the big news of the week during Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO Max by addressing it in the first minutes of his monologue where he realizes there’s “a lot of back and forth” about whether or not he’ll actually get it. “We made a compromise. The compromise is I’ll get it and then I’ll give it away [President Donald Trump]“Everyone is happy,” he said jokingly. “I just want things to go well.”
It appears they are now that the Kennedy Center confirmed on Thursday that Maher will receive the 27th Mark Twain Prize for Humor at a ceremony scheduled for June 28 (and will stream on Netflix at a later date). The honor “honors individuals who have had an impact on American society in the same way that Mark Twain did,” and the organization’s vice president of public relations, Roma Dharavi, praised Maher for his “influence on American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”
The official confirmation came a week after Atlantic It published a report citing multiple sources that Maher has been selected to receive the award and has made an offer, but the seal of approval may be complicated by his history with President Trump, who oversees the Kennedy Center. President Trump criticized Maher in February as a “highly exaggerated lightweight” in a post on Truth Social, which detailed his White House dinner with the comedian, which he called “a complete waste of time.”
after Atlantic She published her story, and Trump’s communications deputies shot it down. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said: “This is fake news. Bill Maher will not receive this award.” White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung added: “Literally fake news.” It’s unclear how it went from “fake news” to very real when the Kennedy Center confirmed it this week and whether or not Trump gave it his stamp of approval.
Maher addressed the spokesperson’s denial on Friday evening, but added that he just wanted to say thank you. He is “not looking for a fight” and is not angry with Trump back and forth. “The president and I have a complicated relationship that goes back to the orangutan lawsuit,” Maher joked, referring to a 2013 lawsuit that found Trump suing Maher over comments he made during an appearance on a television show. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Maher challenged Trump to provide a copy of his birth certificate to prove that he “is not the product of his mother who had sex with an orangutan.” Trump later withdrew the lawsuit.
“This has been going on for a long time, so he’s trying to stop me from getting it — I respect the move. I respect the move. Stay in the game, baby. Well, all I care about is engagement. Disengaging will get you nothing. We’re back to him calling me an ‘idiot’ and I’m a ‘light-rated loser,'” continued Maher, who then turned his attention to the insults Trump directed at him on Truth Social. Get that off your chest big man, okay, I’m totally fine with that.
Maher even said he was “proud of these latest insults” that Trump directed in his direction, adding them to a long list he brought with him to the White House. A split screen then showed an image of a piece of paper bearing the White House logo and a long list of insults, many of which Maher read aloud.
“So I’d just like to say that as a light-hearted, stupid, pathetic, bloated man, a dummy, a bad student, a nervous, failed comedian, a sick, crazy, very sad, completely shot-down, crazed lunatic, I am honored to accept the Mark Twain Award. Thank you very much,” he said. “I’ll be there, Don, and I hope you’ll be too. I mean, the place has your name on it now, and you really should show up. You can come. You can thank me personally for being one of the few people on the crazy left who is happy to hit Iran and hope we win.”
Maher’s most recent episode featured a one-on-one interview with U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official. His panel was hosted by CNN’s Laura Coates and ESPN star Stephen A. Smith, who hosts the program Straight Shooter with Stephen A. and Presentation by Stephen A. Smith on SiriusXM and YouTube.
