And just when you thought it was over, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer joined the exchange Wednesday, condemning controversial comments made last week by Maher, in which the Politically Incorrect host described recent U.S. military action as "cowardly."
Fleischer said Maher's comments, made on the ABC show last Monday, were "unfortunate" and "a terrible thing to say." Although he hadn't actually seen the broadcast, Fleischer said it was a reminder that Americans "need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is."
The whole flap began last week, when Politically Incorrect returned for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks. During the show, author Dinesh D'Souza told Maher that he disagreed with President George W. Bush's comments that the hijackers were "cowards."
"Not true," D'Souza said. "Look at what they did. First of all, you have a whole bunch of guys who are willing to give their life. None of 'em backed out. All of them slammed themselves into pieces of concrete."
Maher concurred. "We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," he said. "That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."
The day after, Maher's comments went virtually unnoticed. But word quickly spread by way of Texas-based radio-show host Dan Patrick, who urged his listeners to complain to both Sears and FedEx. After fielding calls from disgruntled viewers, both companies pulled their advertising from the show.
Maher later issued a clarification and apologized to those who thought he was trashing the men and women in America's military. But despite the contrition, ABC's Washington, D.C., affiliate WJLA--along with 16 other stations--decided to drop the show temporarily. (The Washington Post now says WJLA has pulled the show indefinitely.)
Since then, viewers and colleagues have jumped to Maher's defense. Conservative columnist and frequent guest Arianna Huffington slammed WJLA and the advertisers who pulled out of P.I., urging her readers to email ABC or sign a petition to prevent the show from getting canceled.
" 'Cowardly' was the injurious word uttered by Maher," she wrote. "Well, let me use it now where it really belongs--to describe ABC if it decides to cancel a show that is, after all, called Politically Incorrect."
Others, however, aren't too sympathetic. "It was hard to hear the apology through the foot in his mouth," writes San Francisco Chronicle TV critic Tim Goodman. "Say what you want about political correctness and the danger of abridging freedom of expression in dangerous times, but what Maher said was ill-timed and stupid."
Another guy who's reportedly not a big Maher fan: Disney chief Michael Eisner. The Mouse House honcho recently told the Los Angeles Times that he disapproved of Maher's comments. But reps for the Disney-owned network still insist Huffington's Politically Incorrect cancellation talk is "just a rumor."
Not too surprisingly, the controversy has boosted Politically Incorrect to its best ratings in more than six months. The show averaged 2.8 million viewers for the week of September 17, up 20 percent from last year.
(updated 9/28/01 at 11:30 a.m. PT)