Actor Kevin Sorbo sauntered into the Kanye West antisemitism debacle to let the world know that he is blissfully unaware of the legal limitations of free speech.
The former Hercules star descended from the towering heights of his copious privilege to offer a feeble disavowal of West’s incendiary remarks and robust defense of the rapper’s freedom to use hate speech. He tweeted, “I may not agree with what Ye said yesterday. But he has the right to say it. That’s how free speech works.”
While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, it is not an absolute right. In other words, as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones learned the hard way, legal restrictions exist on free speech to prevent crimes like slander, libel, and hate speech.
Sorbo appears oblivious to the seriousness of hate speech. The Holocaust is one of the most extreme examples of how words can lead to unthinkable harm. It’s absurd that anyone would be more offended by resistance to antisemitism than by antisemitism itself.
Unsurprisingly the actor was slammed for his misguided take. A user called meowsofdoom tweeted, “You ‘may’ not agree? ‘May’ Kevin? Seriously?”
Chrisapple1212 reminded Sorbo that free speech does not take place in a vacuum, tweeting “He has the right to say whatever he wants but he is not immune to the consequences. That’s how free speech works.”
SoCalDude11 called it as he saw it, “Think that means he agrees but wants to have plausible deniability.”
WyoLost posted a cartoon stating that freedom of speech did not mean people have to listen, entertain, or refrain from criticizing your point of view. It does not mean that there will be no response to your statements. Furthermore, the response might take the form of a ban or censure.
Hopefully, Sorbo will take a second look at the First Amendment and his understanding of free speech will expand to include its limitations. Better still, maybe he will develop the ability to empathize with people whose existence has been devastated by hate speech and realize that it is always indefensible.
