Catholic League president Bill Donohue is sending the names of thousands of outraged Catholics who signed our online petition against Bill Maher to HBO Chairman and CEO Richard Plelpler.

As Donohue indicated in his letter to Plepler, thousands more petitions will be sent to him in the coming weeks. In the December edition of Catalyst, the league’s monthly journal, members are invited to sign the petition.

Recently, Maher was forced to apologize for offending African Americans. Also, HBO scratched all of its Louis C.K. shows. Donohue picked up on this in his letter to Plepler.

“We’ve spoken before about Maher. Citing free speech as a defense looks rather lame, as witnessed by the two aforementioned examples.

“In a time of heightened sensitivity over offensive fare, why does Maher always get a pass when it comes to Christians?”

Donohue asked Plepler to reply. We will post his response.