Like Milo Y, Bill Maher once defended sex between adults and minors – USA TODAY

Bill Maher wants the world to know that he is responsible for the fall of former Breitbart employee Milo Yiannopoulos. USA TODAY

Bill Maher, left, listens to Milo Yiannopoulos, on HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' Feb. 17, 2017, in Los Angeles.(Photo: Janet Van Ham, HBO via AP)

When Bill Maher took credit for helping take down internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos after he defendedsex between teens and adults, the comedian/talk show hostneglected to mention or forgot he said some similar words on TV nearly two decades ago.

Now a media monitorwith a long memory has dug up the old videotape from Maher's ABC show,Politically Incorrect, that shows Maherdefending the notorious case of Mary Kay Letourneau, the Seattle teacher convicted of having sex (and becoming pregnant) with her12-year-old male student. Letourneau and the student had two children together while he was a teenager, and they married in 2005 after she got out of jail.

She is in jail because she is in love. Thats how I view it, Maher said in the 1998 clip posted by Mediaite. Basically, theyre having a family and theyre keeping the mother in jail because she wont conform to what society feels should be the perfect American family.

When one of his conservative panelists on the show,Celeste Grieg, pointed out in horrified tones that Letourneau had raped her student (which under the law is exactly the case), Maher was dismissive.

Raped? Come on, Maher responded. How can a woman rape a man?

It was a reminder that Maher, 61, made his comic bones being transgressive when the way nastier Yiannopoulos, 33, was in short pants. Defending the seemingly indefensible was one of Maher's comic themes, especially onPolitically Incorrect, which was canceled in 2002for poor ratings according to ABC following Maher's ill-advised remarks about cowardice and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

'Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher' with guest panelists on October 5, 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.(Photo: CRAIG T. MATHEW, ABC)

Theedgy exchange on sex between minors and adults was unearthed by Mediaite, the media monitor founded by NBC's legal analyst Dan Abrams, and was subsequently picked by such outlets as CBS News and The Hollywood Reporter.

The reason: Maher took a lot of heat for booking Yiannopoulos on his HBO show, Real Time, last week, despite the British writer/provocateur's history of digital trashing of gays, liberals, Jews, blacks, feminists, reporters and many others.

Milo Yiannopoulos spars with Bill Maher, panel in 'Real Time' debut

Then, after year-old podcast clips of Yiannopoulos seeming to condone sex between some teen boys and men emerged over the weekend, he was abandoned by his political pals, by his employers at Breitbart News and by his publisher who abruptly killed his rich book deal.

Milo Yiannopoulos' controversial book is canceled

Maher took credit, perhaps jokingly, for Milo on the ropes: It was a tipping point, he said. "As I say, sunlight is the best disinfectant. Youre welcome," he told the New York Times.

'You're welcome': Bill Maher takes credit for Milo Yiannopoulos' takedown

But Mediaite found other examples of Maher defending Letourneau and at least some types of illegal sex between minors and adults.

Im the only guy Ive ever heard who defends Mary Kay Letourneau, he told Playboy in a 2007 interview.

Bill Maher of 'Real Time with Bill Maher' on HBO in April 2016.(Photo: Janet Van Ham, AP)

Are you saying teachers should be allowed to have sex with their 13-year-old students, as she did, and not go to jail? asked thereporter (even Playboy could be shocked).

Maher said he believed in a double standard If a 28-year-old male teacher is screwing a 13-year-old girl, thats a crime.

"But with Debra Lafave(another teacher who had sex with a student)screwing her 14-year-old boy student, the crime is that we didnt get it on videotape. Was he being taken advantage of? I wish I had been taken advantage of like that. What a memory she gave him!

A representative for Maher did not immediately return an email from USA TODAY requesting comment.

Maher and liberals in general took some more heat on Twitter Thursday night as the Politically Incorrect clip began spreading, with many tweets including the word "hypocrites" in all-caps. Others tweeted about their loss of respect for Maher.

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Like Milo Y, Bill Maher once defended sex between adults and minors - USA TODAY