Mario Batali Talks Paula Deen on Real Time w/ Bill Maher

Friday night Chew host and chef Mario Batali was a guest on Real Time With Bill Maher, and while he stayed pretty silent in the midst of the other shouty guests (wutup MTV's Kennedy!), he did opine on Paula Deen's diabetes/pharma sponsorship: "My first thought is always sympathy, not one of beating her with a stick over her diabetes."

Batali offered a better solution for how she should have played it. "Had I run her advertising campaign, I would have said, why don't you announce it six months ago." said Batali. "Go to the gym, [eat a] salad, and if you come up six months later a little bit dry in the improvement department, say like 85% of Americans, I'd rather take the drug because it's not working for me. Maybe that's what she should have done."

Video: Mario Batali Talks Paula Deen on Real Time With Bill Maher

· Real Time With Bill Maher [HBO]
· All Mario Batali Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Paula Deen Coverage on Eater [-E-]