Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Bill Maher Details 2025 Trump Dinner Fallout as Larry David Feud Still Hasn't Recovered

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Bill Maher Details 2025 Trump Dinner Fallout as Larry David Feud Still Hasn't Recovered

Q: Why did one White House dinner permanently fracture the friendship between comedians Bill Maher and Larry David?

The friendship broke down because Larry David saw Bill Maher’s White House dinner with President Donald Trump as unacceptable, and the dispute escalated into a deeply personal public fight. Maher attended the 2025 dinner, arranged by Kid Rock, saying he viewed it as a chance to “infiltrate” Trump’s circle and open a line of communication. Afterward, Maher said on HBO that Trump had been “gracious and measured” in private. That reaction angered David, who was reportedly outraged that Maher had met with Trump at all and then publicly offered him any praise. David answered with a New York Times satire, “My Dinner With Adolf,” using an extreme historical comparison to mock Maher’s dinner. Maher responded sharply, saying that invoking Hitler meant David had “lost the argument” and calling the essay “an insult to six million dead Jews.” At that point, the disagreement was no longer just about the dinner; it had become a public moral and personal rupture. The break appears permanent because neither man backed down from his view of what the dinner meant. Maher defended it as an attempt at engagement, even comparing it to a “Nixon to China” moment. David treated it as a line that should not have been crossed. Their mutual friend Jerry Seinfeld later said both men were “bugged out” by the clash, and reports indicate they still have not repaired the relationship.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Larry David was "so outraged" by Bill Maher’s 2025 White House dinner with Donald Trump that he wrote the essay "My Dinner With Adolf," and Maher said their relationship still has not recovered.
12 days after the dinner, Maher praised Trump on HBO as "gracious and measured," saying he had hoped to influence an administration driven by "people are saying" — comments that stunned friends and drew backlash.
Sean Penn questioned Maher’s focus on Trump’s likeability, Jerry Seinfeld said both Maher and David "got kind of bugged out," and Dave Chappelle later blasted Maher in a Netflix special.
The praise was brief: Maher soon called Trump’s first 100 days back "probably 100 things to legitimately hate," while Trump this year dismissed the dinner as a "total waste of time" and called Maher a "jerk."