It’s safe to say Bill Maher wasn’t laughing at Wanda Sykes‘ joke directed towards him at the 2026 Golden Globes.
The Upshaws actress revealed during a recent interview on Vulture’s Good One podcast that the Real Time host confronted her about the diss, calling it “stupid.”
While presenting the award for best performance in stand-up comedy, Sykes quipped at the time, “There’s some people pissed off that a queer Black woman is up here doing the job of two mediocre white guys … but first I want to give them some love.”
She proceeded to roast the nominees in the category, including Sarah Silverman, Brett Goldstein, Kevin Hart, Ricky Gervais (who ultimately won) and Maher. “Bill Maher, you give us so much,” she said of the latter, who seemingly didn’t know how to react when the camera panned to him, “but I would love a little less. Just try less.”
At the end of the night, Maher apparently approached Sykes as they were waiting for their respective cars. “He was like, ‘What was that about?’ And I was like, ‘It’s a joke, Bill,’ she recalled. “He’s like, ‘Well, I mean, it wasn’t even a joke.’ I said, ‘Oh, no, I heard laughing. It was clearly a joke.’”
The comedian said Maher continued to argue with her, leading her to respond, “See? You’re doing exactly what we said in the joke. We need less of this. You’re epitomizing the joke. Less of this.”
“He didn’t care for it,” Sykes added. She also said the Real Time host told her that he had been “getting a lot of texts” about the comment and that they thought “it was a stupid joke.”
“When he said ‘stupid,’ I was like, ‘OK, now you’re gonna get it,’” Sykes said. “I was like, ‘Well, I got a lot of texts telling me how great it was, and how they don’t like you, and it was really funny. I guess that’s the problem. You’re watching Fox News, and I’m over here on MSNBC. See?’ Then he asked me to be on his podcast. I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’”