Bill Maher Urges Skydance Chiefs to Ignore Trump
Bill Maher used Friday's opening monologue on Real Time with Bill Maher to address the Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger and remarks by Donald Trump. Maher said the merger went through and that Paramount now owns Warner Discovery, which owns HBO, which owns him. He told whoever owns him now not to believe what Trump is tweeting about him, citing Trump's weekend comment that his ratings are so low it is "just sad." Maher said the insults do not bother him and added that Trump can make up whatever he wants about him, just not mention that he went to Cornell. The remarks came with the $110 billion deal moving toward completion. A US judge on Wednesday approved a settlement with a group of 12 states that had challenged the deal on antitrust grounds. CEO David Ellison said Friday the combined company will be called Skydance, while Paramount and Warner Bros keep their individual identities. Real Time with Bill Maher has aired on HBO since 2003. Left-rated outlets TheWrap and Deadline Hollywood foregrounded Maher's appeal to Skydance leadership about Trump. No center-rated or right-rated coverage is in the record. How Skydance ownership will affect the show is not settled in the available accounts.