It looks like two of TV’s most opinionated political commentators have more in common than they think. Well, aside from their critics pegging both of them as smarmy blowhards.
The PBS series Finding Your Roots has uncovered the revelation that comic Bill Maher and Fox News staple Bill O’Reilly are actually cousins. Seriously! The discovery of this familial relationship pops up in the third season of the series, which has been on hiatus since the ethics scandal surrounding protective edits of Ben Affleck’s slave-owning ancestry.
The episode, set to air on January 12, features the reaction of both cable fixtures to the news they’re distant relations. According to the Associated Press, here was O’Reilly’s response to being connected to Maher.
“Oh, geez,” he said. “You’re going to have to put him on 24-hour medical watch. This ruins his career. This destroys him.”
As for Maher’s reaction…
“It just shows you what a great place America is,” he said. “Because we’re about as opposite as you can possibly get.”
So where do their paths cross on the ye ole ancestry board? According to the program’s DNA consultant CeCe Moore, the two men share a common male ancestor from Kingdom of Breifne in Ireland based on a test of their Y chromosomes. Separate autosomal DNA testing also reveals a link via a shared ancestor. Science and all that.
Obviously, the next sensible step following this revelation is a Maher + O’Reilly Sears family portrait and we refuse to hear any arguments against it.
The third season of Finding Your Roots will premiere on January 5 with a collection of notable names (Shonda Rhimes, John McCain, Richard Branson) participating in the latest set of shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvGF4lYC9I
(via U.S. News & World Report)