Happy Days star Henry Winkler has accused former President Donald Trump of having "pushed" him when they encountered one another at an event.
Winkler, who is a longtime critic of Republican presidential nominee Trump, made the accusation during a recent appearance on Bill Maher's Club Random podcast, where the two exchanged jokes about aging and forgetting people's names.
"You have to forgive people when they do that," Maher told his guest of forgetting people's names. "Because we've all done it. We've all had it done to us."
Changing course, Emmy-winning Barry star Winkler responded: "You know what I don't forgive? I don't forgive people who don't see you, who don't acknowledge your existence. That kills me. Like, people who brush you out of the way."
When Maher asked Winkler who would do such a thing to him, the actor said: "Oh, there are people who have done that to me."
Asked to by Maher to "name two," Winkler said: "The first time I met a man who was running for president at the time... Trump. I met him at a ball, at a big event, and he literally pushed me out of the way, like the president or the premier of [Montenegro]."
"That should be shown every day, every hour," Winkler added of his alleged encounter with Trump. "Because I think it is the very definition of a soul."
Maher, who is also a fervent critic of Trump, said he would consider being brushed aside by the onetime real estate mogul "a compliment."
The host quickly moved the conversation on from the alleged incident, telling Winkler: "We already know that about him. I'm bored with that. Nobody has been meaner..."
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Trump and Winkler via email for comment.
Veteran actor Winkler has long been critical of Trump. During an appearance on MSNBC back in 2017, the screen star accused Trump of being "completely self-obsessed," adding: "His life's bread, his life's blood is the sound of appreciation, or adulation."
In 2021, Winkler compared Trump to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in a post shared on X, formerly Twitter.
"TRUMP is exactly like MUSSOLINI .. his term should end that way," Winkler wrote. Mussolini was executed in 1945. Winkler's post was deleted shortly after it was shared on the social media platform.
Back in 2020, Winkler joined other Happy Days stars, including filmmaker Ron Howard, who played Richie Cunningham on the classic TV show, for a virtual reunion on behalf of Democratic Party of Wisconsin in 2020.
Meanwhile, Trump sued Maher back in 2013 after the comedian suggestively joked on Real Time that the erstwhile businessman's true father was an orangutan. Later appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show, Maher said he would give $5 million to charity if Trump could prove his father was not an orangutan, echoing Trump's offer for former President Barack Obama to release his college records.
Trump responded by sharing a copy of his birth certificate alongside a statement from his lawyer, who said it demonstrated "that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan." Once Maher didn't hand over the $5 million, Trump sued him for breach of contract. Trump eventually withdrew the lawsuit.
In an interview with Newsweek in March, Maher said that while he wasn't thrilled with the then-likely presidential showdown between Trump and President Joe Biden in November, he was steadfast in his decision over who he would be backing.
"I've said this many times: If it is Trump and Biden, I would vote for Biden's head in a jar of blue liquid versus Donald Trump," he declared.
Vice President Kamala Harris since became a late entrant into the 2024 presidential race after Biden announced in July that he would not be seeking reelection.
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