Bill Maher wants 9/11 called what it was.
Marking the 25th anniversary on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher tore into media standards that discourage journalists from using words like “terrorist” without attribution — arguing that the caution can obscure a basic fact about Sept. 11: al-Qaeda terrorists deliberately murdered 2,977 people.
“So much has changed since 9/11,” Maher said. “For example, back then, we were against the terrorists.”
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Maher pointed to guidance issued around the 20th anniversary by journalism organizations cautioning that “terrorism” is an emotionally and politically loaded term.
He wasn’t buying it.
“Really? We can’t anymore just say out loud who the bad guys were on that morning?” Maher asked.
“Those 19 hijackers, they shared something — oh, let’s call it a world view, and it wasn’t astrology.”
Maher’s broader argument was that avoiding the ideology behind the attacks makes it harder, not easier, to understand what happened.
The 19 hijackers were members of or affiliated with al-Qaeda, the Islamist extremist organization led by Osama bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission documented al-Qaeda’s role and its ideological motivation for attacking the United States.
Maher singled out the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC for language policies discouraging journalists from applying the terrorism label themselves.
The BBC’s editorial guidelines do, in fact, tell journalists not to use “terrorist” without attribution, arguing that the word can be “a barrier rather than an aid to understanding.” Its guidance recommends more specific terms such as attacker, bomber or gunman.
Maher turned that language against them.
“You know what’s really a barrier to understanding?” he asked.
“Lying.”
Maher said the real clash exposed by 9/11 was not between Muslims and Christians, but between radical Islamism and Western liberalism — particularly over religious freedom, gay rights and the equality of women.
“Was this a clash of civilizations? It was, and it still is,” Maher said. “Not between Muslims and Christians.”
“But radical Islamism versus Western liberalism? Yes, that’s a real thing.”
Maher pivoted to Israel’s war on Hamas, accusing some Democrats and progressive activists of losing the same moral clarity when discussing Gaza.
He called Hamas a “terrorist mafia gang” and rejected musician Macklemore’s characterization of Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide, arguing instead that Israel was conducting a counterattack in a war.
Watch the clip below:
The prevailing view of so much of the young left in America is that we’re the worst country ever, so if someone attacks us, they can’t be all bad. pic.twitter.com/u01HsCRnv3
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 12, 2026
