Bill Maher Defends “Complicated” Elon Musk On ‘Real Time’

Last night on HBO‘s Real Time with Bill Maher, the host went to bat for Elon Musk during a conversation with tech reporter Kara Swisher.

Swisher, who recently released her memoir Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, hosts the podcast On with Kara Swisher as well as co-hosts the podcast Pivot.

During her talk with Maher, Swisher implied that all tech giants fear her reporting. “I think they’re scared a little bit,” she said, referring to the likes of Musk and Jeff Bezos.

She characterized a lot of moguls as “hugely narcissistic,” and said the people surrounding them praise them to the point that, “You start to think of yourself as a god.”

Swisher says Musk doesn’t think very highly of her, once saying her “voice is so shrill, only dogs can hear [her], and [her] heart is seething with hate.” Maher added that “he’s a complicated guy,” to which Swisher quickly responded “how about he’s just not a complicated guy, he’s just a jerk, but go ahead,” before she came around a little.

Maher replied, saying “I can easily prove he’s complicated,” referencing Musk’s Neuralink chip helping a paralyzed man play video games with his mind and that he owns a Tesla.

Swisher replied saying she likes those versions of Elon but “it’s Twitter/X Elon that I have a problem with.” You can watch the clip above.

During another part of the conversation, Swisher said “I don’t think you have to give someone an out,” noting that tech giants like to claim they want to change the world but it’s just a cover “for wanting to make money.”

She also said she has high hopes for AI, but that it could also “go completely south.” There are not enough protections, she says, adding, “We’re the crash-test dummies of the digital age.”