Jay Leno Responds After Bill Maher Confronts Him Over Gambling Debt 'Conspiracy Theory' as Reason for His Numerous Injuries

Bill Maher didn't let Jay Leno off with any easy questions.

During a recent episode of the "Club Random" podcast, the Real Time with Bill Maher host, 68, asked the former The Tonight Show with Jay Leno star, 74, about the rumors that his recent injuries are related to alleged gambling debts.

"It’s a conspiracy theory, since you’ve had three accidents that you actually have gambling debts and that you’re being beaten up by the mob," Maher asked about the baseless rumor which stemmed from his November 2024 fall down a hill at a hotel in Pennsylvania.

"I love the idea that the mob would drive to Greenburg, Pennsylvania, wait outside the Hampton Inn on kind of a sleety, rainy day to throw me down the hill," Leno said sarcastically.

“That’s not what they’re saying, please don’t mischaracterize,” Maher jokingly added. “They’re saying throw you down the hill was your cover story, and they just beat you up like the mob always does. When you had that other accident, when you fell off your ‘motorcycle wink wink.'"

As OK! previously reported, the Jay Leno's Garage star recently explained how he was on his way to dinner when he took quite the spill. "To get to [the restaurant], I didn’t have a car, so you had to walk about a mile and a half around. I said, ‘Well, the hill doesn’t look that steep. It’s about 60-70 feet. Let me see if I can go down the hill,’ I fell down," he noted in a recent interview.

Despite his straightforward reasoning, people on social media thought there was more to the story. "So Jay Leno got set on fire a few years ago, is staying at a Hampton Inn while being worth millions of dollars, with an eye patch, bruised up face, a broken wrist and a missing fingernail. And he wants us to believe he. . . Fell down a hill???" one person rote on X, formerly known as Twitter, refereeing Leno being burned in a gasoline fire in 2022.

"I have never believed a conspiracy more than Jay Leno owing massive gambling debt," a second person added, while a another claimed, "Looks like he took a punch to the skull with that shiner. Shady [as f---]."

When addressing the inferno that erupted in his garage, he explained in a 2022 interview, "Anybody who works with their hands on a regular basis is going to have an accident at some point. If you play football, you get a concussion or a broken leg. Anything you do, there's a risk factor. You have to joke about it. There's nothing worse than whiny celebrities. If you joke about it, people laugh along with you."