Elon Musk Tells Bill Maher That We Must Protect Free Speech, ‘I Think We Should be Extremely Concerned About Anything That Undermines the First Amendment’

In an interview with Bill Maher that aired last night on his HBO show, Elon Musk told him that we must protect free speech.

In a clip that was shared in a tweet, Musk told Maher, “It’s bizarre that we’ve come to this point where free speech used to be a left or liberal value.”

“Yet we see from the left a desire to censor. That seems crazy. I think we should be extremely concerned about anything that undermines the First Amendment,” Musk declared.

Musk then explained, “There’s a reason for the First Amendment. The First Amendment is because people came from countries where they could not speak freely and where saying sort of things would get you thrown into prison.”

“By the way, in many parts of the world, including parts of the world that people might think are similar to the United States, the speech laws are draconian,” Musk added.

Maher interjected by listing an example, “England is quite different” to which Musk responded, “I won’t name any country.”

The audience laughed as Maher asked, “England, why are we protecting them? They have no First Amendment.”

Musk, who has business interests in the country, made sure to note, “I love England.”

Maher gave an example “In France, I think if you deny the Holocaust, which I think is abhorrent, but I also think it should be part of free speech, you can be thrown into jail.”

Musk concluded, “I really can’t emphasize this enough, we must protect free speech, and free speech is only relevant when it’s someone you don’t like saying something you don’t like because, obviously, free speech that you like is easy. The thing about censorship is that for those who would advocate it, just remember at some point that will be turned on you.”

.@elonmusk: "It's bizarre that we've come to this point where free speech used to be a liberal value. And yet we see from the 'left' a desire to censor. That seems crazy. I think we should be extremely concerned about anything that undermines the First Amendment…

We must… pic.twitter.com/Tvx3UdKBFS

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) April 29, 2023