Bill Maher Gets Even Creepier With Defense of Woody Allen

There’s not a long list of Woody Allen defenders out there, but consider Bill Maher the captain of that very exclusive squad. In a recent conversation with Katie Couric on his Club Random podcast, Maher wondered aloud how long America needs to flog funny guys like Louis C.K. and Woody Allen over Me Too allegations. “How long does the punishment last?” he wondered. “Forever?”

Allen doesn’t get to work anymore, groused Maher, conceding that he might be too old for it. And those actors who no longer want to work with Allen or regret doing so in the first place? “What a bunch of pussies.” But Couric let Maher in on a secret — the 88-year-old director is working and has a new French film, Coup de Chance, that was recently reviewed in The New York Times. But to Maher’s larger point, Couric acknowledged the age-old dilemma — can you love the art if you don’t respect the artist?

That’s not an issue for Maher, since he respects “the art, artist and the man.” Heck, Maher will go you one further — he believes Allen is innocent of all allegations. “I don't think he committed that crime,” Maher said. “There were two police investigations that exonerated him. I mean, what do you have to do in this country?”

Maher laid out his case. First of all, “it's a very improbable crime that they're accusing (Allen) of, plainly. The other party had motivation and was vindictive. If you saw the documentary about it, it was all from her point of view,” he argues. “I just flat-out believe him. I believe a 57-year-old man didn't suddenly become a child molester in the middle of a divorce proceeding in a custody battle in a house full of adults in broad daylight.”

Couric pushed back. “There were some pretty sketchy and damning things in that documentary that were separate from just Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow and Dylan making the case. And that certainly raised some legitimate questions.” 

For example, Couric remembered from the documentary that Allen had a relationship with a high school student before Soon-Yi, a detail that Maher couldn’t recall. Nonetheless, the makers of Allen v. Farrow did talk about the alleged affair between Allen and high school student Christina Englehardt, supposedly the inspiration for Manhattan. Not a good look, Woody.

Couric was put off by other details in the documentary, such as Allen wanting girlfriends to “dress up in little anklets and Mary Janes and babydoll dresses.”

“You think he’s the only guy who likes that,” scoffed Maher, admitting that he’s also into the schoolgirl thing. “Leaf through an issue of Penthouse Magazine. That's what we grew up on. We find it sexy. You know, peacocks have plumage. We do things to arouse the opposite sex. That doesn’t make you a pervert.”

Maybe not. But starting a sexual relationship with the young daughter of your longtime romantic partner might qualify. And even Maher doesn’t dispute that fact.