Bill Maher used his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” Friday night to call out the disgraceful reaction from some on the left to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The discussion, which featured Ben Shapiro, quickly turned into a defense of free speech and a condemnation of the toxic rhetoric surrounding Kirk’s murder.
“I didn’t realize this was gonna be kind of a theme show because we write our editorial before the week starts, and so it was all about freedom of speech,” Maher said. “Then the assassination occurred, so this is turning into a theme show. But it is kind of interesting that this guy was shot.”
Maher noted that Kirk had appeared on both his TV show and podcast. “I talked to him, I liked him," he said. "I like everybody. I talk to everybody that I think… Um, I’m glad I took that approach.”
Kirk’s death, Maher pointed out, occurred while he was doing exactly what he was known for. “He was shot under a banner that said, ‘Prove me wrong,’ because he was a debater,” Maher explained. “And too many people think the way to do that, to prove you wrong, is to just eliminate you from talking altogether.”
Maher didn’t hold back in condemning those who mocked or justified Kirk’s killing. “The people who mocked his death or justified it, I think, ‘You’re gross. I have no use for you,’” he said. “The people who are saying now we’re at war, I have no use for you.”
While it was nice for him take this position, he couldn’t help himself and had to sneak in a little of the “both sides” argument that many on the left have been making the past few days.
“I think the real war is not between left or right," he said. "It’s between the people on both sides who want a war and the people who don’t.”
Bill Maher: “[Charlie Kirk] was shot under a banner that said ‘Prove Me Wrong.’… To many people, the way to do that… is to just eliminate you from talking altogether. So the people that mocked his death or justified it — I think you’re gross. I have no use for you.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) September 13, 2025
Ben… pic.twitter.com/AjKxcYBxbM
Ben Shapiro, who was close friends with Kirk, offered a personal perspective. “I knew Charlie for 13 years,” Shapiro said, recalling meeting him as a teenager in Palm Beach. “I watched him, you know, grow into a man and watched him, you know, get married and have a couple of very young kids.”
Shapiro reminded viewers that Kirk’s work was about engaging with opposing views: “Whatever you thought of Charlie’s views is irrelevant. The fact is that what he made his living doing and what he actually did quite well… was just going and talking to people on the other side. And that’s, you know, what he was killed doing. He was literally in the middle of answering a question and picked up the microphone and was shot in the throat.”
The broader issue, Shapiro warned, is a growing cultural acceptance of violence as a response to speech. “We do have a serious problem in this country with people who believe that violence is the proper response to speech, and that does skew young,” he said. “What the polls tend to show is that of Gen Z, only 58%… believes that there is no excuse for violence in response to speech, meaning that 42% believe that there are some times that… violence ought to be a response.”
“That is deeply terrifying,” he added, noting that he has required round-the-clock security for a decade. “Even the assassination of political figures is not the same thing as just being shot in the throat for the crime of debating issues in the public square.”
For Shapiro, Kirk’s assassination marked a dark moment in American life. “I thought that that’s not what America is or what it should be about, and we’ve come to some place incredibly dark in our nation’s history,” he said. “And, you know, I weep for the country. I weep for Charlie. It’s, it’s horrific.”
Maher deserves some credit for calling out the ghouls on the left who laughed at or excused Charlie Kirk’s assassination. That kind of honesty is rare in Hollywood, and it’s refreshing to hear someone with his platform say out loud what so many Americans are thinking.
ICYMI: MUST-WATCH: Gutfeld’s Powerful Tribute to Charlie Kirk
I’ve long been critical of Democrats who posture as if they oppose political violence while claiming some moral high ground on the issue. Most of the time, I don’t buy a word of it. But Maher is different. He’s been consistent in warning the left that their rhetoric is toxic and counterproductive. He’s openly pushed back on the lazy habit of calling Trump a Nazi, and he even had dinner with Trump and walked away with decent things to say. That track record gives him credibility where others have none.
Still, his instinct to retreat into the tired “both sides” trope misses the point. The real threat isn’t some abstract culture of division — it’s the left itself, which has made clear it’s at war with anyone who dares to disagree with them.
Charlie Kirk was murdered for the simple act of debating ideas in public, and the response from too many progressives has been to cheer or justify it. That tells you everything you need to know. The modern left doesn’t want to win arguments; it wants to silence and destroy the people making them. Kirk’s assassination was an attack not just on one man but on the very foundation of free speech in America.
Charlie Kirk is gone, and the left celebrates his silencing. Many in the legacy media look away. PJ Media brings light to what they want to hide, defending free speech without compromise. Support real journalism—join PJ Media VIP, use code FIGHT for 60% off, and get ad-free browsing. Support journalism that puts America First.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member