Bill Maher responded to the effort by some students at the University of California-Berkeley to disinvite the HBO TV star from speaking at a school commencement ceremony, taking a dig at the college kids for not adhering to their liberal free speech roots.
Students began collecting signatures online to get UC Berkeley to cancel Maher's appearance at the December commencement due to his comments about Islam. Maher declined to comment to multiple media outlets, instead choosing to respond to the flare up during his show on Friday.
To defend himself, Maher referenced comments made during a HuffPost Live interview with Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and author.
"Bill Maher's not a bigot. I know him," Aslan said on HuffPost Live.
"If even my most respectable critic who's a Muslim says this, what leg does this protest have to stand on?" Maher asked during Friday's episode of "Real Time" on HBO. "He and I disagree on stuff but he's always welcome on the show. That's how it's done, kids!"
Maher noted the irony students at Cal wanted to uninvite someone based on comments they made, given that this year is the 50th anniversary of the start of the Free Speech Movement on the Berkeley campus.
"I guess they don’t teach irony in college anymore," Maher said.
Watch Bill Maher's response in the video above.