Additional Coverage:
- Emotional Bill Maher’s response as pundit dies on hijacked 9/11 flight while en route to his show (themirror.com)
Bill Maher honored the memory of Barbara Olson with a heartfelt tribute on his show following her tragic death during the September 11 attacks. Olson, a sharp and outspoken television commentator and lawyer, was aboard American Airlines Flight 77 when it was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
Olson had been scheduled to appear on Maher’s ABC talk show, Politically Incorrect, in Los Angeles. In a poignant gesture, when Maher returned to the air six days after the attacks, he left one of the four guest seats empty throughout the week as a solemn tribute to her.
As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, Maher reflected on his friendship with Olson, describing her as a favorite guest and a dear friend. The studio audience responded with warm applause as he spoke, and producers maintained the empty chair in her honor.
Just two days before the attacks, Olson appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, where she was recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington, D.C. Known for her wit and candidness, she regularly featured on shows such as Larry King Live and Politically Incorrect.
Before her career as a media commentator, Olson served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and later as chief investigative counsel for the House of Representatives. She married Theodore Olson, a prominent lawyer, in 1996.
On September 11, 2001, Flight 77 departed from Washington Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles. Shortly after takeoff, five al-Qaeda hijackers commandeered the plane, crashing it into the Pentagon and killing all 59 passengers and crew aboard, along with 125 people inside the building.
Barbara Olson was one of only two passengers known to have made phone calls during the hijacking. She calmly informed her husband Theodore that passengers were being herded to the back of the plane by men armed with knives and box cutters. Unbeknownst to the hijackers, she had access to a phone and was able to alert authorities through Theodore, who passed on critical information to the FBI and Justice Department.
Originally scheduled to fly on September 10, Barbara delayed her trip by one day to celebrate Theodore’s birthday, sharing a dinner together the night before.
Theodore Olson, who passed away in November 2024 at the age of 84, later recounted how he realized the plane had struck the Pentagon when he saw the smoke on television. Bill Maher’s empty chair on the set symbolized a deeply moving tribute to a life and voice tragically lost on that fateful day.