“Real Time” host Bill Maher on Friday talked to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and took shots inside the corporate tent with criticisms aimed at CNN’s coverage of the DNC convention.
Maher, whose HBO show airs Saturday nights on CNN (both are sister networks under Warner Bros. Discovery), began the exchange by invoking Collins’ viral moment on “The Late Show” earlier this month when Stephen Colbert’s liberal audience laughed after he referred to CNN as “objective.”
“I’m a big rooter for CNN, but that tells you a lot, doesn’t it?” Maher asked. “How do you guys think you’re doing in that arena of like ‘This is a terribly divided country. We’re not only politicized, a lot of people just hate the other side.’ And CNN, in my view, should be the place where both sides can watch. How do you think you’re doing with that?”
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“CNN is the place where both sides can watch,” Collins firmly responded. “My show is evidence of that. We have lawmakers from both parties. We’ll have Elizabeth Warren on one night, we’ll have Ted Cruz on another night… I mean, look at what just happened in Chicago. WE had 300 people from CNN on the ground covering that convention. There were several reporters from just our team alone on the floor bringing it in real time to people. And I think CNN puts resources behind things, and just brings a level of news that you don’t get anywhere else.”
“I’m talking about the people on CNN,” Maher clarified. “And I know what the conservative side of America thinks. And I don’t blame them.”
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was grilled by “Real Time” host Bill Maher over the network’s “gushing” coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris’ DNC speech. (Screenshots/HBO)
Maher then pivoted to CNN’s coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris‘ convention speech Thursday night, noting that she wrapped her speech at “11:09” ET.
“It wasn’t until 11:23 til the one conservative guy. What’s his name?” Maher asked.
“Scott Jennings,” Collins answered.
“Lonely Scott I call him,” Maher quipped. “From 8:09 to 8:23 (PT), they were just gushing about how great a speech it was. And I think she did fine. I didn’t think it was as good as they were making it up to be. But if I’m a conservative in America and I’m watching CNN just for the straight middle of the road, that’s what I hear for 15 minutes. It’s great. And then Lonely Scott.”
“It does look like tokenism. It’s kind of like the same as ‘The View.’ It’s like it’s almost better to have nobody there like MSNBC,” he added.
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Maher said he thought Vice President Kamala Harris’ DNC speech was “fine” but it wasn’t as good as CNN made it seem. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Collins pushed back at Maher’s characterization, telling him “I don’t think that you can say that CNN is anything but fair.”
“I feel like I can speak with authority on this,” Collins said. “I’m from Alabama. I’m from a very red state. I have a very conservative family. A lot of them are Trump voters. They watch my show every night, and I think they know that they can trust me, that, you know, we call bulls— on every side, not just whatever leaning our audience may be and I think that’s something that people actually want more of… And everyone who was speaking last night, it’s not like they were all Democrats. I mean, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, all my amazing colleagues. They come across giving analysis.”
“They come across that way,” Maher told Collins. “In a moment like that, it was like five to one. It always looks like five to one.”
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Maher said CNN’s Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Abby Phillip “come across” as Democrats as they reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech. (Screenshot/CNN)
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He also offered the same criticism towards CNN’s now-infamous town hall featuring former President Trump last year, pointing out how the live audience was “loving him” and then the network cut to “five people sh—ing on him.”
CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.