Byron Allen's $120 million BuzzFeed bet draws a public critique from Bill Maher

A $120 million commitment to digital media ran into public skepticism on Monday when Bill Maher used Byron Allen's own podcast stage to call BuzzFeed and HuffPost "peak woke." Allen, who Variety reported in May had invested that figure in BuzzFeed and taken the CEO role, also owns HuffPost through BuzzFeed's 2020 acquisition of the outlet. Maher, speaking on his "Club Random" podcast, said HuffPost had shifted sharply left after Arianna Huffington's departure and had targeted him for years.

Maher's case against the publications

The criticism was direct and personal. Maher described both outlets' staffers as "snarky millennial nepo babies" who had arrived at their jobs already "indoctrinated," and said the publications are "not America." He told Allen that HuffPost had cast him in worse standing than Republicans, in his own telling, because he would not conform to what he described as a purity test on the left. "A lot of what they believe, of course, is silly, insane revolutionary, garbage from people who don't know facts or history or perspective," Maher said, while adding he holds no grudge and does not read either outlet.

Allen's position at the two-week mark

Allen did not concede the point. He told Maher he had been in the role for only two to three weeks and that he does read his publications. He credited Al Masini, the producer who created "Entertainment Tonight," with teaching him not to get caught up in that kind of criticism. Allen described the content he had reviewed as a spectrum, a framing that neither endorsed Maher's assessment nor rejected it outright.

The HuffPost Olympic piece and its fallout

The conversation surfaced a February HuffPost article titled "There's a Name for the Discomfort You're Feeling Watching the Olympics Right Now," shared on X with a caption asking whether waving the American flag "turns you off right now." The piece cited athletes including Olympic skier Hunter Hess, who said he was "not the biggest fan" of the current political climate and that wearing the flag did not mean he represented everything happening in the country. The article drew criticism at the time and has become a recurring reference in debates about HuffPost's editorial direction.

What to watch

Allen said he has been CEO for two to three weeks. The February HuffPost piece remains the most recent editorial flashpoint under his ownership, and any stated content policy from Allen's team at either BuzzFeed or HuffPost is the next concrete signal.