{"id":8090067,"date":"2026-10-02T19:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T02:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=8090067"},"modified":"2026-10-03T13:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T20:14:11","slug":"bill-maher-reacts-paramount-skydance-warner-bros-merger-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/tv-shows\/bill-maher-reacts-paramount-skydance-warner-bros-merger-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher Sends a Message to New Skydance Bosses Ahead of Merger Closing \u2013 and It’s About Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Bill Maher had a message for his new Skydance bosses<\/a> ahead of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger closing, urging them not to believe everything President Donald Trump has to say about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comedian touched on the merger during Friday\u2019s monologue on \u201cReal Time With Bill Maher,\u201d where he pondered his fate and who, exactly, he would report to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hey, finally, big news for us. And when I say us, I mean you people who are here every week with me,” Maher said at the end of his Friday night remarks. “The merger went through. You know that Paramount now owns Warner Discovery, which owns HBO, which owns my ass. So I am owned by \u2013 I don’t know.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he went on, Maher made one request for HBO’s new owners, noting, “You know what? Whoever owns me now, don’t believe what Trump is tweeting about me.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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Maher then called out Trump’s latest Truth Social rant about him. For those who missed it, Trump wrote on Monday, “Bill Maher\u2019s ratings are so low that it is hard to believe his show can continue. In many ways it\u2019s SAD because, in actuality, I like him. Republicans should stop using him as a sounding board, however. It makes them look sooo weak and foolish!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maher assured that he was not rattled by the president’s latest jabs, informing his audience: “You know, Mr. President, your insults don’t bother me. Make up whatever s–t you want about me. Just don’t mention I went to Cornell.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maher, who attended the Ivy league institution in the mid-’70s, brought up his alma mater as it faces scrutiny for their handling of an alleged gang rape<\/a> at the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, updates have been pouring in after Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn approved Paramount\u2019s settlement with 12 state attorneys general <\/a>on Wednesday\u2013 which put the $110 billion merger on track to close next week<\/a>. Since then, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz<\/a> has joined David Ellison\u2019s company as co-CEO, CNN CEO Mark Thompson<\/a> is slated to stay on at the newly merged company and Warner film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy<\/a> departed their roles.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Pam\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\tDavid Ellison Finally Calls Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy to Inform Them of Exit They Read About in the Press | Exclusive<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Ellison confirmed that the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would be called Skydance moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParamount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren\u2019t rewriting history \u2014 we\u2019re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine,\u201d he shared Friday morning. \u201cTogether, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe chose this name for a few important reasons. First and foremost, as we bring Paramount and Warner Bros. together, we wanted to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic. Both have distinct identities, extraordinary legacies and brands that have resonated with audiences for generations,\u201d he continued in his statement. \u201cWe never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one. Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. \u2014 and all our extraordinary brands \u2014 to remain in the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Whoever owns me now, don’t believe what Trump is tweeting about me,” the comedian says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10248,"featured_media":8090074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":513377,"post_id":7848586}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"","nb_breaking_template":"","nb_breaking_from_name":"","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":0,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"","nb_newsletter_sent_breaking_post_id":[],"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-10-03T02:41:12Z","apple_news_api_id":"e7b4362e-8ce2-4bde-8d1c-9951462be23c","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-10-03T20:14:10Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A57Q2LoziS96NHJlRRiviPA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"hide_featured_image":false,"the_wrap_post_enable_full_width_featured_image":false,"the_wrap_post_enable_featured_video":false,"the_wrap_post_featured_video":"","the_wrap_post_disable_read_more":false,"wp_curate_deduplication":false,"wp_curate_unique_pinned_posts":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,514398],"tags":[3319,4768,15479],"tw_data_partners":[],"columns":[],"byline":[513377],"class_list":["post-8090067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","category-tv-shows","tag-bill-maher","tag-real_time_with_bill_maher","tag-skydance"],"newsletter_builder_byline":"Alyssa Ray","is_pro_article":false,"apple_news_notices":[],"eyebrow":{"link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/tv-shows\/","text":"TV Shows"},"tw_schema_org_review":{"name":"","type":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8090067"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8090215,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090067\/revisions\/8090215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8090074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8090067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8090067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8090067"},{"taxonomy":"tw_data_partners","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tw_data_partners?post=8090067"},{"taxonomy":"tw_column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/columns?post=8090067"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=8090067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}