Stephen King, Elon Musk Speak Out As Bill Maher Plans 'Real Time' Return

Master of horror Stephen King is speaking out after Bill Maherplans to return to his show despite the writer’s strike.

Just as Drew Barrymore returned to “The Drew Barrymore Show” without writers, Bill Maher decided to bring back HBO’s “Real Time” without writers.

On Thursday morning, the "Carrie" author took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to make his thoughts on Bill Maher's plans to return to "Real Time." He left a simple comment, writing, "This is exactly how strikes are broken."

“There’s nothing worse than a strikebreaker,” one fan agreed. “You can tell someone's social class by their attitude to strikebreakers. If they sympathize with them, they are probably middle or upper class, if they don't, they are probably working class.” Another follower wrote, “I for one don’t plan on watching Real Time. I hope others feel the same.”

Some of King’s followers started to express concern that the strike was going to end soon without a favorable outcome for the writers. “The last thing the strikers need is for other people to realize time is money. They are also losing ground to many small creators who are stepping up to fill the void,” one follower commented. “It looks like Bill Maher sees the writing on the wall. Also, the strike is crushing the ancillary people who need to go back to work to feed their families.”

“A successful strike requires that those striking have something irreplaceable to offer and be withheld. Good stories are being written in other places. With competition, the market sets the price, and that market is bigger than Hollywood,” another follower wrote, leading to a lengthy debate in the comments.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also commented on Bill Maher’s return to “Real Time,” reminding him that he has a large following on social media that he could also take advantage of. “Maybe worth posting some material on this platform,” he wrote. “The reach is enormous.”

In his statement, Bill Maher announced, "Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing. It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns. Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily. We all were hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening."

"I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much. I will honor the spirit of the strike by not doing a monologue, desk piece, New Rules or editorial, the written pieces that I am so proud of on Real Time," he continued.

"And I’ll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop. But the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullshit and predictable partisanship, and that will continue," he concluded. "The show will not disappoint."

The Writer’s Guild of America swiftly took to social media to condemn the decision. “Bill Maher’s decision to go back on the air while his Guild is on strike is disappointing. If he goes forward with his plan, he needs to honor more than ‘the spirit of the strike,’” they wrote in a brief statement on Wednesday night. “As a WGA member, @BillMaher is obligated to follow the strike rules and not perform any writing services."

"It is difficult to imagine how @RealTimers can go forward without a violation of WGA strike rules taking place," they continued. "WGA will be picketing this show." They ended their post with the hashtags #WGAstrike and #WGAstrong.