30 most controversial Bill Maher moments

4. Bill Maher downplays Mary Kay Letourneau’s crimes

There are some remarks Maher once made on Politically Incorrect which are still haunting him today. It dates back to the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau case. To refresh your memory, Mary Kay Letourneau is the schoolteacher who had a sexual relationship with a 12 year old student. She even managed to get pregnant by him, claiming that the two of them were in love.

On Politically Incorrect, Maher spoke about the case, saying that Letourneau was only in jail because she was in love. Controversially, Maher says that although their relationship is “unorthodox”, they were just trying to have a family and should be left alone. He suggests that a woman can’t rape a man, so there’s no way Letourneau was vicitimizing the boy in question.

Because of the young age of the boy, this is still certainly a crime which none of us should be condoning. But it’s also worth noting that the boy married Leourneau after he turned 18, and they’re still together as as family today. But Maher also concedes that he does believe in a double standard, and that it would never be okay for a man of Letourneau’s age to get involved with a young girl.