President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla, Alaska, on Oct. 13, 2026. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump hosted an unexpected celebrity dinner at the White House Thursday night, bringing together a comedian, a prominent sports commentator and a country music star.
Speaking with reporters as he departed the White House on Friday, Trump revealed he dined with comedian Bill Maher, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and musician Kid Rock Thursday night, according to C-SPAN.
“The dinner last night with Kid Rock and Stephen A. [Smith] and Bill Maher was great,” Trump told reporters. “I think they had a good time.” The president said that Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand.”
TRUMP HOSTED A DINNER WITH – WAIT FOR IT – STEPHEN A SMITH, KID ROCK AND BILL MAHER
Bill Maher attends the Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. (FilmMagic via Getty Images)
While Trump did not reveal the specific topics discussed at the meal, he suggested that the four men enjoyed their time together despite Maher’s frequent criticism of the president.
“We talked about everything. It lasted a long time.” he said.
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Musician Kid Rock arrives to speak during a rally with President Donald Trump at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn., on Oct. 10, 2026. (Getty Images)
The president then went on to praise Kid Rock, Maher and Smith, while also revealing additional details of their evening at the White House.
“And I actually liked them,” he continued. “We had a great time. We even took a little tour of the ballroom. We took a — we went inside the ballroom with beams that are being put up over our heads. But it was a great dinner. It was a very informative dinner. Smart people. Stephen A. is great,” he said.
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Stephen A. Smith speaks on stage as he and Christopher Russo host SiriusXM shows live from Fanatics Fest at Javits Center on July 17, 2026, in New York City. (Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Trump also praised Maher, one of his frequent critics.
“Bill Maher, I tell you what, he likes me a lot more than people understand,” he said. “And I absolutely like him. It was a good dinner.”
Digital reached out to Maher for comment.
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Maher previously made headlines after he attended a White House dinner with Trump, Kid Rock and UFC CEO Dana White in April 2025. Afterward, he acknowledged that his previous impressions of the president’s demeanor may have been mistaken, telling his audience that Trump was “more self-aware” in private.
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“You can hate me for it, but I’m not a liar. Trump was gracious and measured,” Maher said in 2025. “And why isn’t that in other settings- I don’t know, and I can’t answer, and it’s not my place to answer. I’m just telling you what I saw, and I wasn’t high.”
However, Maher has not held back in his criticism of the president. In June, Maher mocked Trump’s Iran agreement, saying Trump moved from demands for “unconditional surrender” to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) as the White House defended the framework as a foreign policy win.
“We got everything we wanted except for everything we asked for,” Maher said on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
More recently, Maher predicted a “classic historical a—whooping” for Republicans in the midterms and said, “Trump screwed the pooch.” “That’s what happened. He got drunk with power.”
Maher’s apparent closeness with the president was noted by Axia Public Relations CEO Jason Mudd, who told Digital the dinner carried both reputational risks and rewards for each attendee.
“Bill Maher and other comedians tend to win by joking first and clarifying later. He also has a model. It’s the same one he used in April 2025 on ‘Real Time’ after his first White House dinner with President Trump. He reported what he saw, and said it plainly. The moment a host sounds like a surrogate, he loses the credibility that makes him worth quoting,” Mudd said.
He added that each guest should have arrived at the dinner with a plan for responding to media questions afterward.
“A dinner this high-profile carries reputation risk and reward for each guest,” Mudd said. “I advise anyone invited to a high-profile event to decide what they’ll say about it before, during and after, whether they accept the invitation or not.”
– ‘ CJ Womack contributed to this report.
