The plot thickens. After Bill Maher claimed on the Friday evening installment of HBO’s “Real Time” that CBS prevented him from discussing religion on the “freeSpeech” segment as reported by NewsBusters, the executive producer of the “Evening News” has now denied this. As reported by TVNewswer (hat tip to reader Tracheostomy):

In an e-mail to TVNewser, CBS responds to Bill Maher:

"Bill Maher was never told that he couldn't discuss religion in a 'Free Speech' segment," Rome Hartman, executive producer of the CBS Evening News, said. "In fact, 'Free Speech' has already addressed religion and we expect others will in the future."

This obviously goes counter to Maher’s statements on Friday: “I asked if I could talk about religion, and that was a deal-breaker right from the beginning.” “They said, ‘We’ll send over a list of acceptable topics…for our segment on free speech.’”

Stay tuned.