Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp warned Bill Maher to not use the term climate change “denier,” saying it could embolden figures like talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who earlier this week called Hurricane Irma a climate change ploy.
“I feel like the word ‘denier’ is a bit loaded. I think you have to be allowed to ask questions, the basis of scientific inquiry, asking questions about stuff,” Cupp, a host on HLN, said on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday.
“And so to say that ‘I don’t know if hurricanes are caused by climate change’ — every scientist I read this week said they don’t cause them but they’re probably making them more intense. We just don’t actually know yet. I think it’s OK to say that,” she continued.
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“What question are we asking though? What question is still out there?” Maher interjected.
“What part of the human roots of climate change are responsible for creating intenser storms? I think that it a question that is unanswered by scientists. All of the scientists I’ve read this week do not have that answer,” she said.
“That’s not right,” Maher responded.
“Here’s what I worry about — when you say that’s not true, you are only emboldening irresponsible blowhards like Rush Limbaugh. You don’t want to do that,” Cupp shot back.
“I don’t live my life by what I might make Rush Limbaugh get mad at,” Maher responded.
The exchange comes after Limbaugh said on his radio show that creating panic around hurricanes such as Irma helps advance a climate change agenda.
Limbaugh announced late this week that he would be evacuating his south Florida home due to the Category 4 storm.
Irma wreaked havoc in the Caribbean earlier this week, killing more than 20 people.
Over 5 million people have been evacuated from Florida in preparation for the storm.