Earlier this year, Bill Maher seemed to make a dedicated effort to ensure that his Real Time show on HBO was as intolerable as possible, first by booking famous asshole Milo Yiannopoulos and then by casually dropping the n-word on live TV. Everybody forgot about the first thing after the second thing, but that second thing was bad enough that a number of people began calling for HBO to fire Maher. The network eventually released a statement, referring to Maher’s comment as “tasteless” and “completely inexcusable,” but now it looks like HBO may have overstated how “inexcusable” it thought the whole thing was.
As reported by Variety, HBO has renewed Real Time for two more seasons, extending its run—and Maher’s time on HBO—through at least 2020. In a statement, HBO president of programming Casey Bloys said, “we are incredibly proud to continue our longstanding relationship with Bill Maher,” adding that his “distinctive point of view, coupled with his passion and commitment to insightful and informative entertainment, has remained unparalleled.” Oddly, the statement leaves out his fondness for casually dropping racial slurs.