Maher: 'Emmys will never honour atheists'

Comedian Bill Maher has said that he has never won an Emmy award because he is an "outspoken atheist".

The Real Time With Bill Maher host asserted that awards committees will never acknowledge him because he made the documentary Religulous that openly challenged organised religion, according to Reuters.

"A panel of, like, ten people watches one tape. If half of those people are religious, that probably eliminates me right there," he said. "A lot of people wouldn't vote for such an outspoken atheist, someone who made Religulous."

Maher also stated that he plans to continue to criticise religion on his talkshow, but he will not release a new documentary on the subject.

He explained: "I have no desire to make another [documentary]. I had one subject that I wanted to paint on a bigger canvas than I could in television and in a place that would live in a more permanent way.

"It took me ten years to finally get a studio crazy enough to make the movie and the right director, and having made it I feel I have harpooned my Moby Dick."

Real Time With Bill Maher will return for its eighth season on HBO on September 17.