Bill Maher

His most notable was the former host of Politically Incorrect, which aired on the Comedy Central television network and later ABC.

Maher resigned as host of PI in 2002 after making a controversial on-air remark, in which he said, "We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

After the statement, companies including FedEx and Sears Roebuck pulled their advertisements from the show, quickly causing the show to cost more than it returned. The show was subsequently cancelled on June 16, 2002.

On June 22, six days after the cancellation of Politically Incorrect, Maher received the President's Award (for "championing free speech") from the Los Angeles Press Club.

Quotation

• Response to Dinesh D'Souza's assertion that the 9/11 terrorists were not cowards: "Exactly...We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."
• "We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities."

• The IMDb entry for Maher: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Maher,+Bill