Overview

• On Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the CNN political analyst claimed Iran and Qatar run a “massive” TikTok and Instagram campaign and repeated the phrase “dead Gaza baby” while describing young people’s feeds.
• He posted multiple apologies on X, calling his words “insensitive and hurtful,” acknowledging that babies are dying in Gaza, and saying he intended to warn about online manipulation rather than trivialize suffering.
• A widely shared clip shows the studio audience laughing and applauding at the line, a reaction that helped drive the weekend wave of condemnation.
• NBC’s Hala Gorani said the Gaza videos are real, not a hoax, and Senator Chris Van Hollen accused Jones of echoing Netanyahu’s narrative, with other critics including Kyrie Irving, Boots Riley, and Ms Rachel; some reactions cited aid-group and UN tallies of extensive child casualties.
• A separate viral claim that Jones follows a “hot_idf_girls” Instagram account was reported by Indiatimes and remains unverified in the coverage.