By Molly Claire Goddard
1:56am PDT, May 20, 2025
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Bill Maher is siding with
Donald Trump when it comes to a certain A-list pop star.
On the Friday, May 16, episode of
Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedian gave his candid take on the current president making another extremely controversial statement about
Taylor Swift in a recent Truth Social update.
Keep reading to see what Maher had to say…
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On Friday, May 16, Donald Trump set the public into a frenzy when he shared a message about
Taylor Swift that took aim at either her physical appearance or her relevancy in pop culture.
"Has anyone noticed that, since I said 'I
HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,' she's no longer 'HOT?'" the commander-in-chief of the United States wrote on Truth Social.
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Bill Maher discussed Donald Trump's controversial remark about
Taylor Swift on his HBO show with retired four-star Army general Stanley McChrystal, CNN's Scott Jennings and social media personality
Peter Hamby.
After joking about how Trump "still has time" to make digs at the Grammy winner with "
all the deals" he signed during
his controversial Middle East tour, Maher said he didn't think the president was referencing the Grammy winner's physical appearance.
"I don't think he means physically hot. I think he means hot in the business," he said, noting that Swift "just finished the biggest tour" in history.
"Are you sure he doesn't mean physically hot?" Hamby asked, prompting Maher to admit he couldn't be sure.
"I assume he's criticizing her looks. That was my first reaction," Hamby said.
"No," Maher started before Jennings cut him off.
"I don't think he means that. I recall when he went to the Super Bowl earlier this year, he noted at the time that
the crowd booed her and cheered him. I think at that point he started to detect that she was faltering with the public," Jennings said.
Hamby agreed that Jennings "has a point here" because Swift "made over a billion dollars" on her recent The Eras Tour.
"It's the biggest tour ever," Maher agreed.
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Peter Hamby went on to explain how
Taylor Swift's political affiliations have impacted her popularity: "When she endorsed
Kamala Harris right before the election … [in] like an Instagram post or something, her approval ratings — like, people poll this stuff — her approval ratings went up with Democrats, but with Republicans and independents, they actually went down strikingly. People don't like celebrities and politicians getting involved in elections. They really don't," he said.
"It actually hurts," Bill Maher agreed.
"But that was after her tour, like, in the middle. She's fine. She'll be fine. But I don't think she's not 'hot' in either definition of 'hot,'" Hamby added.
"She's fine. She's not unpopular. She's not as hot in the industry now because she just finished a giant tour, so she needs time to, you know, relax and be with that football player," Maher said, referencing the Grammy winner's relationship with NFL star
Travis Kelce.
"When
she got booed [at the Super Bowl], they weren't booing her in general. What they were booing was, 'We don't like you so much in football. Let us just have football. Let us have one thing without
Taylor Swift involved.' That's what that was about," he continued.
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Shortly after
Taylor Swift put her support behind former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, Donald Trump declared he "hated" the "Karma" singer on social media.
Swift has never directly fought back against the right-wing politician's harsh words. However, she made it explicitly clear she in no way supports Trump and his policies.
"Recently I was made aware that AI of 'me' falsely endorsing Donald Trump's presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation," she wrote in a September 2024 update throwing her support behind the former senator from California. "It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth."
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Donald Trump's anger toward
Taylor Swift became awkward when her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, was asked what he thought about the former star of
The Apprentice being in attendance as his team the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the Philadelphia Eagles in the
Super Bowl.
"That's awesome. It's a great honor," he told the press ahead of the February 2025 game. "I think, you know, no matter who the president is, I know I'm excited because it's the biggest game of my life, you know, and having the president there, you know, it's the best country in the world. So, that'd be pretty cool."
