If you are looking for a heated debate, there are fewer shows better suited than Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Host Bill Maher is quite a passionate debater himself.
On top of this, one of the unique elements of his show is that he never shies away from inviting controversial guests, or those who share different opinions than he does.
He quite memorably hosted Ice Cube in an episode shortly after he infamously dropped a racial epithet on air, leading to an exchange that fans are still talking about years later.
It is also not uncommon for guests to go at each other during the course of an episode of Real Time, as Maher also has a tendency to invite people who are on complete opposite sides of a particular debate.
Real Time with Bill Maher is a very politics-centric show. The host himself tends to lean slightly to the left, although he 'eschews political labels' and refers to himself as 'practical.' He has nonetheless, been a very outspoken opponent of former President Donald Trump.
Trump is arguably the most divisive figure of modern politics, and he was once again at the center of a terse exchange between British journalist Piers Morgan and Australian comedian Jim Jefferies in 2017.
Piers Morgan Jumped To The Defense Of Donald Trump
Jim Jefferies and Piers Morgan joined comedian and politician Al Franken, activist Karine Jean-Pierre and filmmaker John Waters as the guests in the fourth episode of Real Time with Bill Maher's Season 17 on February 10, 2017.
This was barely one month following the inauguration of businessman Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. In those early days, Trump had already taken a lot of steps to antagonize his opponents, including an executive order that barred foreign nationals from certain countries entering the US.
This proclamation was widely christened the 'Muslim ban,' as the countries on the list were predominantly Islam-adherent. It was this, among other things that first set off Bill Maher in that particular episode.
"Could I ask this one last question?" Maher said. "The people who said during the campaign that Hillary Clinton was the lesser of two evils? Could we get the apology right now?"
Immediately, Piers Morgan jumped to the defense of Donald Trump, and asked Maher why there should have been any apology.
Jim Jefferies Lost It On Piers Morgan
Bill Maher retorted with the counter that under a Hillary Clinton presidency, there would have been no Muslim ban, neither would she have appointed people like Betsy DeVos and Rick Perry to her cabinet - who he clearly considered thoroughly unqualified.
Piers Morgan jumped in to continue his argument for Trump. "Bill, calm down," he said. "There is no Muslim ban! If there was..." Jim Jefferies had been silent before then, but he appeared to lose his cool once Morgan started going down that path and jumped in to interject.
"Oh, f*** off!" he shouted. "This is what you do, Piers. You say, 'he hasn't done this, he hasn't done that, he's not gonna do all these things.' Give him a f****** chance, mate!"
In his rebuttal, Morgan dismissed Jefferies' fears as hyperbolic. "That is the exact, ridiculous, hysterical nonsense..." he reiterated.
Piers Morgan's History With Donald Trump
Piers Morgan has enjoyed a close relationship with Donald Trump over the years, and he was one of his strongest advocates throughout his four-year tenure in office.
The Englishman seemed to draw the line, however, following Trump's allegations that his 2020 re-election bid had only ended in defeat to now incumbent Joe Biden thanks to widespread vote fraud.
Morgan addressed this question in a recent interview with Trump, in his major television comeback since he quit his job on ITV's Good Morning Britain in March 2021. The heated exchange ends with the former US president abruptly ending the interview and walking off set.
This is bound to raise questions whether the long-lasting friendship between the pair is now irreparably broken. Morgan was famously the first winner of Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice reality competition series on NBC in 2008.
With no personal reward for the winners of the celebrity version of The Apprentice, Morgan raised more than half a million dollars for charity, and thus began his long friendship with Trump.
The argument with Jefferies was one of the many times that he would defend his pal, although whether that will continue now remains to be seen.
