Cheryl Hines has quietly shown support for a popular comedian she accidentally outed as MAGA.
Nate Bargatze, 47, went off-grid in the face of a huge uproar over his attendance at a White House event celebrating Donald Trump’s 80th birthday earlier this month—a controversy made possible by Hines posting a selfie with him at the bash.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Hines, 60, has now made an apparent gesture of public support.
Bargatze posted a short clip of a live stand-up performance on Instagram on Sunday, featuring him alone on stage talking about his experience trying to buy a hammock.
Hines was among those to publicly ‘like’ the post.
The most ‘liked’ comment on the video, however, is focused on his Trump party outing. The comment reads: “Nate how was the carnival on the WH lawn?” The second most-liked is more simple, but ominously states: “We remember.”
Bargatze was the highest-grossing stand-up comic of 2024, managing to offload over a million tickets across his shows. Coming up to 2025, he raked in $56.7 million from his (again) highest-grossing tour, while also starring in his first feature film and hosting the Emmys.
Many of his fans were blindsided on June 15, when Hines posted a photo of herself, RFK Jr., and Bargatze at Trump’s birthday UFC match the evening prior.
Some of Bargatze’s fans called his choice to hang out with the MAGA set “problematic” or announced that they were “no longer a fan,” with one judging: “Not political but hangs with corruption and the Epstein class. Nah.”
Despite the immediate fallout, Bargatze’s reps did not respond to requests for comment, while the comedian himself took an uncharacteristic break from posting online.
While no official statement has been given, the comedian returned to Instagram just three days ago following an 11-day-long disappearance. Before the grand return, a source claimed that he only attended the event because UFC is his “favorite sport,” and that his presence was “not political.”
