Ben Shapiro Predicts Backlash After Bill Maher Remarks On Islam And 9/11

NASHVILLE  (VINnews) — Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said Monday that comedian Bill Maher will again face sharp criticism after comments connecting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to radical Islam.

Shapiro posted a video clip from Maher’s HBO program on X and wrote that the host “just said the obvious about Islam and 9/11. Again. Which means he’ll be excoriated. Again.”

Maher used the 25th anniversary of the attacks on “Real Time With Bill Maher” to criticize news organizations for avoiding the word “terrorism.” He said some journalism groups have advised putting the term in quotation marks because it is “emotionally and politically loaded.”

“You know what’s really a barrier to understanding? Lying,” Maher said, according to multiple reports of the broadcast.

The host argued that the 19 hijackers shared a worldview rooted in radical Islamism, not a generic political grievance. He described an ongoing clash between radical Islamism and Western liberalism, citing opposition to religious freedom, homosexuality and women’s equality.

Maher also referenced polling that found about one in five young Americans hold a favorable view of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who planned the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, has frequently criticized what he calls media reluctance to identify the ideological motives behind Islamist terrorism. His post Monday quickly drew replies ranging from agreement to accusations that he was inflaming tensions.

Maher, a longtime critic of political correctness on both the left and right, has made similar observations since shortly after the 2001 attacks. Those earlier remarks contributed to the cancellation of his previous ABC program.

The Sept. 11 attacks were carried out by 19 Terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida, an Islamist terrorist network. All 19 were Muslim, a fact Maher said public discussion has increasingly downplayed.