Bill Maher Jokingly Blames Selma Blair for FAA Issues on ‘Real Time’

After the Federal Aviation Administration called off a nationwide grounding that affected thousands of flights, Bill Maher floated several possible explanations for what went wrong.

On Friday’s edition of Real Time, the comedian speculated, jokingly, about who or what might be responsible after air traffic controllers lost key communications and were unable to safely manage traffic.

“Did you see they grounded all the planes in America? All the planes,” Maher said on the show. He added that while officials say there’s no foul play, he remained skeptical and suggested it might be a cyberattack — from China, Iran, artificial intelligence — or even, in jest, Selma Blair.

Maher’s quip referenced news from last month, when actress Selma Blair was charged with assault after authorities allege she tried to open an airplane’s emergency exit during a flight, struck one airline worker and bit another. Blair has apologized as the case continues to move through the legal system.

See the clip on Deadline

The FAA enacted a nationwide ground stop on Friday, citing “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety.” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the pause was prompted by a communication problem affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers and that FAA technicians were investigating.

By 5:15 p.m. PT the FAA had lifted the restriction that had kept more than 3,500 flights on the ground. Duffy later said the disruption stemmed from an issue with radar “instability” that forced the temporary shutdown of domestic airspace.

Later in the same episode, Maher responded to a comment from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who had said there was “no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us.”

“I just want to put this out there: maybe it’s nothing, but we lost our email yesterday — everyone’s email went down,” Maher observed. He also noted recent reports of supermarket freezers in Europe being compromised and speculated, without evidence, that the country might be under cyberattack.