Bill Maher and Donald Trump Agree: Alex Jones' Hate Speech Is Still Protected Free Speech
'If you care about the real American shit or you don’t. And if you do, it goes for every side. I don’t like Alex Jones, but Alex Jones gets to speak. Everybody gets to speak,' Maher said HBO's 'Real Time'
Bill Maher, HBO’s late-night political satirist defended Alex Jone’s right to “free speech” on his show Friday night. Maher slammed Jones as some who has "told crazy lies" about him and many others, but argued that "if you’re a liberal, you’re supposed to be for free speech."
“That’s free speech for the speech you hate. That’s what free speech means. We’re losing the thread of the concepts that are important to this country,” Maher continued.
“If you care about the real American shit or you don’t. And if you do, it goes for every side. I don’t like Alex Jones, but Alex Jones gets to speak. Everybody gets to speak," Maher said.
U.S. President Donald Trump accused social media companies on Saturday of “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices” and says “we won’t let that happen.”
Trump’s morning tweets come as companies have been working to ban right-wing “Infowars” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.
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Apple, YouTube and Spotify have permanently removed some of his content, Facebook has suspended him for 30 days and removed some of his pages, while Twitter has given Jones a weeklong timeout and is mulling deeper changes to try to limit the spread of fake news, misinformation and hate speech.
Trump did not mention Jones by name in his tweets, which complained that, “Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad.”
Trump appeared on Jones’ program during the 2016 campaign and praised his “amazing” reputation.