Scott Galloway Says Bill Maher's Show Felt Like a 'Republican Ad'

Scott Galloway, the NYU marketing professor and co-host of the Raging Moderates podcast, said Friday's episode of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher "just felt like a Republican ad." He made a point of calling it a friend's criticism of a host he still admires.

Galloway spoke on a livestream with co-host Jessica Tarlov that aired Monday, the day before the midterm elections. His main complaint was how the show handled James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, whose race could help decide which party controls the Senate.

"I thought it was a real miss on their part. And I love Bill and I love his team and you know, they know I'm always a fan and a supporter," Galloway said. "But on the Friday before the election to bring on Kid Rock and Ted Cruz and Karoline Leavitt, it felt like it felt like I don't know, it just felt like a Republican ad."

Who Was on Bill Maher's Real Time Panel

Friday's episode opened with a one-on-one interview with Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Kid Rock, the musician and longtime Donald Trump ally, then joined a panel with Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios, according to HBO's episode listing and the lineup announced ahead of the show.

Leavitt was not on that episode. The former White House press secretary, who stepped down in August, gave her first late-night interview on Real Time a week earlier, on October 23, TV Insider reported. Galloway still singled her out, calling her "sharper than anyone that was on that stage." Her interview aired a week before the episode he was criticizing, so she was not part of the Friday lineup, and Cruz appeared in a one-on-one interview rather than on the panel.

The lineup came days after Trump went after Maher in a 1,323-word Truth Social post that called him a "COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER," LateNighter reported. Kid Rock had helped arrange Maher's dinners with the president.

What Ted Cruz and Kid Rock Said About James Talarico

Galloway said the talking points on Talarico from Cruz and Kid Rock centered on the claim that Talarico believes God is nonbinary and that there are six genders.

Galloway said those lines went largely unchallenged. He argued that "no one was there to push back and say no, Talarico is trying to reflect the empathy and love of your Jesus that says that all people should be loved."

"It just, it struck me as just so nonbalanced," he said.

Galloway acknowledged that Maher did land one counterpunch, on Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, describing it as a line about masculinity as "a corrupt person that protects pedophiles and cheats and lies." His complaint was that Maher otherwise did not provide "his usual sharp gutting pushback."

What James Talarico Has Actually Said

Both lines trace back to 2021, when Talarico was a Texas state representative. The "God is nonbinary" remark came as he opposed a transgender sports bill, the Texas Tribune reported.

The "six" figure comes from the debate over the athletics bill, where Talarico said there are six biological sexes. He has since retracted that on Fox News. "There are not six sexes. There are two," he said, adding, "I've missed the mark on some of my past statements," the Washington Examiner reported.

Texas Senate Race Polling

Talarico leads Paxton 48.7 percent to 43.3 percent in PolitiKool's polling average for the Texas Senate race. Democrats need to flip seats like this one to take the chamber, and PolitiKool's Senate map rates overall control a toss-up.

Tarlov raised the race first. She said some Texans who like Talarico may still worry about handing Democrats the Senate. Galloway answered that concerns over tariffs, inflation and corruption "just overwhelm" that worry.

What Happens Next

Galloway said he was criticizing an outlier, not the show itself. "The thing I love about that show is they kind of hit it straight down the middle, which pisses off everyone," he said.

Texas voters decide the race today.