Bill Maher Praises Trump as He Receives Mark Twain Prize at Kennedy Center

Bill Maher received the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for his comedy, and he had a lot to say about Donald Trump on the red carpet and at the event.

Although a judge ruled earlier this month that Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center following the president’s attempt to change the name of the institution, a tarp was still up that concealed most of the official name (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) at the event on Sunday, June 28.

Maher said on the red carpet that he found the tarp to be “hysterical,” per Deadline. “I mean, as much as you could try to think of his next move, you could never do it. Only he could think of that. The tarp,” he told reporters. “I just never would have gone there. To me, it just makes it better and funnier, and it’s a funny event celebrating funny.”

Amid Trump’s second term as president, Maher has shown support for him on various occasions, and even met up with him for dinner. “He’s president. He’s a caretaker. He’s an employee right now,” he continued on the red carpet. “The country endures. This endures. Comedy endures. Mark Twain forever. All my friends are forever. You really think because he was president I was going to let all that stop here?”

In another comment about the tarp, he added, “You know what’s funny? It’s vanity. It’s not a war, it’s not people getting killed. It’s not antisemitism. It’s not racism. It’s a silly thing covering a name. I mean, what’s funnier than that? You know, it’s high school with money. It’s ridiculous. Like, why is that up there? I don’t know why it’s up there, but it makes me laugh.”

During the taping, he mentioned Trump, who tried to stop Maher from winning the Mark Twain honor, again. “Now the president, when he is in attack mode, never fails to say I am part of the lunatic left,” Maher began. “OK, he’s not wrong that there is one. I’m just not part of it, and I’m sure there is a lunatic right. And when either side gets mad at me because I put them in jokes, jokes that work, my message to them is simple: You want to not get mocked? Stop being funny. Then the jokes will work. When they are ridiculous, they do work, and when people laugh, you’re caught.”

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Maher also discussed his decision not to pander to one side of the political spectrum, adding, “People say they want honesty, they don’t. They want to live in a bubble. They say they want to be challenged. They don’t, except for my audience. They love it, and I love them for it. And I’m sorry, I think that makes them better. Why? Because I don’t ask what will please the audience. I ask what is true and they are OK with that. They are a unique group of people who do not demand to be pandered to, and in fact, want me not to do that, and it has been the honor of a lifetime to try and lead a backlash to groupthink.”

Bill Maher: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, July 21, Netflix