Bill Maher In 2006: Ken Mehlman Is Gay (VIDEO)

During a live broadcast of CNN's "Larry King Live" in 2006, Bill Maher suggested to Larry King that Ken Mehlman, then-chairman of the Republican National Committee, was gay. Nearly four years later, Mehlman confirmed Maher's statement.

WATCH:

Partial transcript of Bill Maher's appearance on Larry King Live:

BM: A lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party, are gay. I don't want to mention names, but I will Friday night...

LK: You will Friday night?

BM: Well, there's a couple of big people who I think everyone in Washington knows who run the Republican...

LK: You will name them?

BM: Well, I wouldn't be the first. I'd get sued if I was the first. Ken Mehlman. Ok, there's one I think people have talked about. I don't think he's denied it when he's been, people have suggested, he doesn't say...

LK: I never heard that. I'm walking around in a fog. I never...Ken Mehlman? I never heard that. But the question is...

BM: Maybe you don't go to the same bathhouse I do, Larry.

When CNN re-aired the interview later that night, they edited out Larry King and Bill Maher's discussion of Mehlman's potential homosexuality.

Comments

[DANOSC]

11:37 AM on 09/19/2010

2006? Long before that, the rumor was out that Mehlman was gay, at least in the gay community.

[DixieMay]

02:33 PM on 08/30/2010

LOL...looks like the only people who didn't kow Mehlman were his bosses and himself. What turns my stomach is that he'll be publically embraced by the RW to "prove" they're accepting of the GLBT community. Which of course is one (but only one of the MANY) of the biggest lies they're trying to foist on America right now.

[JonB2057]

03:42 PM on 08/30/2010

"What turns my stomach is that he'll be publically embraced by the RW to "prove" they're accepting of the GLBT community."

I think the opposite is going to occur. The GLBT community is going to absolutely welcome him home, in the same manner as the parable of the "prodigal son".

[DixieMay]

09:30 PM on 08/30/2010

Really?? None of my friends from the community are welcoming him at all. I thiink they see him as an opportunist with little to no creds. Maybe if he rejected the RW adgenda loudly and proudly? But I am doubtful that will happen as he's trying to line up his next job and still hopes it can be with the Reps. I think he is in for a rude awakening...

[american-dolt]

01:07 PM on 08/30/2010

Hooray, Maher got one right.

[SongSinger]

03:53 AM on 08/30/2010

I could tell that Ted Haggard was gay just by looking at that sloppy mouth of his. Before he confessed. This does not apply to all gay men but it sure applied to Ted Haggard.

Really Gross mouth.

[JonB2057]

03:44 PM on 08/30/2010

I could tell that Ted Haggard was gay just by looking at that sloppy mouth of his. Before he confessed."

Just by looking at his mouth? I've heard all kinds of stuff about gays, but that is a new one.

[zkelly]

12:47 AM on 09/23/2010

yeah i'm straight and i could tell just by looking at his mouth ;)

[jplanner]

02:16 AM on 08/30/2010

wow great point about antiabortion and repubs wanting to 'kill something inside of themselves" aka homosexuality.
he can be pretty insightful at times

[LMPE]

06:02 PM on 08/29/2010

Ah yes, Ted Haggard. I've always thought that he looks like Paul Lynde (who got outed post-mortem).

[DANOSC]

11:41 AM on 09/19/2010

Post mortem? Paul Lynde was outed "post mortem?" Well, he may have been outed post mortem, but it wasn't after his own death. More like outed after the death of Eleonor Roosevelt.

[MKeita]

11:40 AM on 08/29/2010

Bill mann... You're the funniestin show biz!

[Terryc123]

02:50 AM on 08/29/2010

I really suspect Limbaugh and Rove might be of that persuasion.

Look at their records with the opposite sex.

[cef911f1]

07:10 PM on 08/29/2010

Don't confuse being gay with being repulsive to women.

[Terryc123]

08:34 PM on 08/29/2010

I don't know about Rove but chicks seek to like the drugster (why I don't know life is indeed strange)

But point well taken

fanned

[JonB2057]

03:54 PM on 08/30/2010

There is actually a difference??

[Terryc123]

02:48 AM on 08/29/2010

Now it's becoming clearer why the fear of Muslims and Sharia law by the Regaylicans.

They know how anti gay the Muslim religion is and the penalty for being gay is quite severe..

If Sharia law were in effect most if the Regaylcan party would be punished severely

[DANOSC]

11:56 AM on 09/19/2010

If Republicans get their hands on all three branches of government, the "penalty" for being gay will be quite severe. The biggest threat to the rights of gays and lesbians in the United States is not Sharia law. The biggest threat is the Republican Party. The biggest threat to democracy in the United States is neither Sharia or Islam. It's the far religious right and its Republican enablers and it's "the bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it" attitude. The Bible trumps the Constitution in their mind. There's the threat.

[HouseProletariat]

06:42 PM on 08/28/2010

I suspected back then as well. Unfortunately, my GayDar no longer functions.

It was overloaded by the Old Spice guy and fried out.

[Professorofdesire]

06:15 PM on 08/28/2010

I am so glad that Bill's new season is starting next month. Life is funnier when his show is on HBO. I wish his seasons were longer and the hiatuses shorter.

[Svrkevi]

04:07 PM on 08/28/2010

lol

[JonBFertippton]

03:51 PM on 08/28/2010

Randy Rhodes has been calling Mehlman gay for years. She knew it before he did. Evidently.
Each election cycle the Republicans find a group to hate. They go on verbal porgroms against them to electrify their base to turn out at the polls on election day. The blacks were a suitable target, part of the Republican Southern Strategy. Then there were the gays; the Xian fundamentalists turned out in droves to vote on anti-gay propositions (as well as presidential and congressional elections). This year it's the Moslems and the so-called "mosque" at Ground Zero is just a vehicle for whipping up hatred against Moslems. Mehlman's self-outing is part of the strategy. He hopes that he can convince gays that the anti-gay Republican pogrom is now over and they can return to the fold - gay votes are needed. Why should gays vote Repulbican? Because Islam is so anti-gay. That is really what Mehlman said. Not accidentally, Laura Bush also came out in favor of gay marriage some months ago. It is all part of the latest Rove election strategy. Hating Moslems brings out the Republican base. Mehlman wants some gay votes to add to the anti-Moslem masses. Who's next on the verbal pogrom list? Find out in 2012. In the meantime look for anti-Moslem, anti-mosque propositions.

[mivogo]

01:57 PM on 08/28/2010

It astounds me that so many people don't see what's right in front of them. I understand why some gays don't want to come out (from being abused to making money) but the fact that, for example, virtually every leading female talk show host is gay escapes the notice the majority of viewers blows my mind.
Let me make a Maher-like prediction: One year from today, the nation will be shook to its roots when one of the most popular woman in the nation's history will come out of the closet,
One who has denied being gay (and threatened lawsuits) for decades. Gee, guess who?

The problem isn't their hypocrisy--it's the fact that they would indeed be abused and lose millions if they did come out. The bottom line is, nation (and we're actually better than most in this area) has a long way to to..

[JonBFertippton]

03:37 PM on 08/28/2010

Barbara Walters?

[seadakdaddy]

04:54 PM on 08/28/2010

Oprah? :)

[mombabytiger]

02:58 AM on 08/30/2010

Tyra?

[SchrodingersKatz]

11:07 AM on 08/28/2010

I like the ads on this page: "Free Gay Thug Chat".