30 most controversial Bill Maher moments

6. Bill Maher “exposes” a political candidate as a witch

Former Republican Senate candidate for Delaware Christine O’Donnell found herself the victim of a modern day “witch hunt”. It all began in the 90s, when O’Donnell appeared as a regular guest on Bill Maher’s show Politically Incorrect. She came on frequently, appearing in 22 episodes of the series. And there were apparently some things she said on film which didn’t make the cut, yet still came back to bite her.

In 2010, Maher began a campaign to get O’Donnell to appear on Real Time. He said that until she came on, he was going to release embarrassing unaired clips of her from Politically Incorrect. And to prove his point, he chose a clip of O’Donnell saying that she had dabbled in witchcraft. She then recalled a date where she had a “midnight picnic on a satanic altar”.

In her defense, O’Donnell said that this happened during high school. She then tried to use it for her Senate run, using the slogan, “I’m not a witch!”. However, she later admitted that the ad backfired, because it only called more attention to her witchcraft comments. Ultimately, O’Donnell didn’t win her bid to join the Senate, which could be because of Bill Maher.