Following the decision by Sen. Al Franken to pull out of a scheduled guest appearance this Friday on “Real Time with Bill Maher” amid a controversy over Maher’s use of the N-word, HBO announced that academic Michael Eric Dyson will take over the guest slot.

Maher has come under intense criticism over the incident, as we reported Monday. The AP notes that he used the racial epithet in a joking reference to himself as a house slave.

Maher later apologized.

“Dyson, an African-American author and Georgetown University sociology professor, tweeted a measured defense of Maher,” the AP notes. “While declaring that the N-word ‘should be reserved for black use,’ he called Maher ‘a champion of many figures for black justice.'”

Friday’s “Real Time” will also feature musician and actor Ice Cube, journalist David Gregory, former Florida Rep. David Jolly and activist Symone Sanders.