Bill Maher Criticizes Jimmy Kimmel’s Wife Over Family Ultimatum on Trump
Bill Maher has taken aim at Molly McNearney, Jimmy Kimmel’s wife, after she admitted cutting off relatives who refused to abandon Donald Trump in last year’s election
Maher slammed the Kimmel couple’s approach, calling it part of a growing “purity test culture” on the left and mocked the idea of using family ultimatums over politics. “Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you,” Maher said.
McNearney, co-head writer and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, revealed on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast that she had sent relatives an email listing “ten reasons” not to vote for Trump. She said many ignored her or responded angrily, which ultimately strained relationships
“To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” McNearney said, explaining how the political divide caused family rifts. She added that she has since grown closer to relatives whose values align more with hers.
Maher criticized this stance as part of a wider trend on the left: moralizing and alienating potential voters. He argued that such behavior contributed to Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 loss and paved the way for “a second helping of MAGA” in the White House.
“Write a top ten list to yourself where you try to imagine ten reasons why 77 million Americans didn’t want to trust you with power,” Maher quipped, noting that he votes Democratic himself.
The feud follows a turbulent year for Kimmel. Earlier in 2025, Trump pressured Disney to pull Kimmel’s show off-air temporarily after controversial comments he made regarding MAGA in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. ABC reinstated the host after backlash, but Kimmel continues to target Trump, who has repeatedly called for him, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon to be removed from the air.
