<p>Talk show host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bill-maher">Bill Maher</a> took time out on his show to speak about Salman Rushdie after the famed author was attacked on Friday just before he was about to take the stage in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york">New York</a> and give a speech.</p>
<p>During his show on Friday, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bill-maher">host</a> of HBOs &#8220;Real Time with Bill Maher&#8221; told his audience that he wanted to take a moment to talk about his &#8220;dear friend,&#8221; Rushdie, who &#8220;got stabbed&#8221; by someone before he was to speak to a group at the at the Chautauqua Institution. The clip can be seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWl7_G754c">here</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know the motivation yet,&#8221; Maher told the panel &#8220;But Sal did have some enemies in the past. As I recall.  &#8230;Sal was in Chautauqua, he was giving a lecture, how about this for irony, about how the U.S. is a safe haven for exiled writers and other artists under threat of persecution.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;And making that speech itself is unthinkable in most Muslim countries,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Salman Rushdie living in most Muslim countries without getting stabbed every day is unthinkable. So, don&#8217;t come at me with islamophobic. Phobic means fear.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>WATCH:</strong></p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="The Attack on Salman Rushdie | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lcWl7_G754c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8220;Well, Sal had a good reason to be fearful,&#8221; the HBO host continued. &#8220;And when you say phobic, it&#8217;s just a way to shut off debate. You know they use transphobic, islamophobic, and we should have a debate about this. Sorry, but, you know, these things don&#8217;t go away. Islam is still a much more fundamentalist religion than any of the other religions in the world and that means they take what&#8217;s in the holy book seriously.&#8221;</p>
<p>The podcast host said that by doing so, that has &#8220;been dangerous&#8221; for a long time and &#8220;it&#8217;s still dangerous.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lgbt-network-head-says-bill-maher-should-be-canceled-following-his-latest-remarks-questioning-increase-in-children-identifying-as-transgender">Maher</a> noted that it was back in 1989 that Rushdie was &#8220;first threatened&#8221; by Iran&#8217;s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over the author&#8217;s groundbreaking book &#8220;The Satanic Verses,&#8221; as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-famed-author-salman-rushdie-target-of-iran-death-sentence-stabbed-on-stage-in-new-york">The Daily Wire</a> reported.</p>
<p>One of the guests on the show, Piers Morgan, then shared a Rushdie quote that read, &#8220;Defense of free speech begins at the point when people say something you can&#8217;t stand. You often have to defend people you find outrageous, unpleasant and disgusting.&#8221;</p>
<p>The host of &#8220;Piers Morgan Uncensored&#8221; noted that Rushdie&#8217;s comments are what people &#8220;have forgotten&#8221; about free speech. &#8220;It&#8217;s about your ability to listen to people whose opinions you might staunchly disagree with, you might hate their opinions &#8230; but you should be able to tolerate their right to have a different opinion.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iranian-state-media-after-rushdie-stabbing-it-is-now-the-turn-of-trump-and-pompeo">Iranian State Media After Rushdie Stabbing: &#8216;It Is Now The Turn Of Trump And Pompeo&#8217;</a></strong></p>

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’Unthinkable’: Bill Maher Blasts Attack On ‘Dear Friend’ Salman Rushdie