Bill Maher returned from his break with an angry monologue in which he attacked the leadership of the LA Fire Department for the way they handled the city’s disastrous wildfires.
The 30 wildfires, which have killed at least 25 people, had been substantially reduced to four fires as of Thursday. Two of the largest remain active.
Maher spent much of Friday night’s Real Time season premiere angry at the way the city had handled the fires, asking in his “New Rules” segment, “Look me in the eye and tell me how anyone could do worse.” could have done?’
“We got kicked by fire, something Neanderthals fought to a draw,” he joked.
The liberal comedian then questioned the fire department’s involvement in DEI policy.
“The good news is that our fire chief is a lesbian,” he said sarcastically, referring to LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley.
‘Am I against a lesbian being a chef? Of course not. Do I think a lesbian can do this job? Of course I do and maybe she’s the best person,” he said before dropping the hammer.
“Or maybe they really wanted a lesbian in the job and maybe she’s the best lesbian for the job and with essential services that’s not enough.”
Bill Maher returned from his break with an angry monologue in which he attacked the leadership of the LA Fire Department for the way they handled the city’s disastrous wildfires
“The good news is our fire chief is a lesbian,” he said sarcastically, referring to LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley
Maher specifically quoted a portion of Crowley’s biography that her “top priority” is devoted to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI.
“It’s telling that ‘diversity’ is mentioned twice before we get to ‘while’… ‘as we strive to meet expectations,'” he noted of her biography.
He then shot a public relations video that resurfaced from 2019 in which Deputy Chief Kristine Larson — head of the Equity and Human Rights Bureau — defended the fire department’s use of DEI hiring practices.
“You want to see someone who responds to your home, to your emergency — whether it’s a medical call or a fire call — who looks like you,” she said in the clip.
Maher responded, “That would sound pretty racist if a Southern sheriff said it!”
“So we should send white firefighters to white houses and black ones to…who teaches people this bull***? No one cares what someone looks like when they pull you out of a burning house!’
He then attacked Larson for raising concerns that female firefighters might not be strong enough to carry a man out of a burning building, to which she simply responded, “He ended up in the wrong place when I take him out of a fire must wear. ‘
“Well, tell that to these guys,” he said, showing videos of firefighters on the ground “paying the price” for the failure of essential services.
He then shot a resurfaced PR video from 2019 in which Deputy Chief Kristine Larson – head of the Equity and Human Rights Bureau – defended the fire department’s use of DEI hiring practices.
‘Is wakefulness the main reason for the fires? Of course not. But it is also not wrong to associate some of the unforced errors our government has made with the things that the norm sees as hallmarks of deeply progressive politics,” Maher continued.
He cited “questionable budget priorities, high taxes that yield nothing, making everything about identity politics” and “sending sound signals abroad instead of sorting things out at home.”
The latest complaint was an apparent shot at Mayor Karen Bass, who was in Ghana attending the swearing-in of the country’s first female vice president when the fires broke out.
He ended by calling on California to regain its sanity, joking that “California wildfires are like boob jobs at a strip club: inevitable and they’re only getting bigger.”
Furious Los Angelinos have criticized their mayor for traveling to Ghana while the city was on fire, despite having given ample warning of “critical” weather conditions in the days before.
Maher at one point in the show referred to Bass as the city’s “Nero,” who famously played while Rome burned.
Earlier in the show, Maher interviewed Rick Caruso, who finished second to Bass in the 2022 mayoral race.
Caruso would not challenge or rule out Bass again in 2026.
Maher at one point on the show referred to Bass as the city’s “Nero,” famously playing while Rome burned, while she was in Ghana to attend the swearing-in of the country’s first female vice president when the fires broke out .
Earlier in the show, Maher interviewed Rick Caruso, who finished second to Bass in the 2022 mayoral race
‘There is time for me to decide whether to run or not. “I’m just honored that I can at least help in some way,” he said.
“This problem is too big for politics and I have no patience for politics.”
Firefighters were expected to make progress on the largest fires on Friday, but tens of thousands of people remain under evacuation orders.
Residents returned to their homes are under a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., police said New York Times.
Bass, Crowley and Gov. Gavin Newsom have all faced calls to resign over their failure to act more quickly.