Bill Maher on Friday urged Americans to defend free speech without conditions, warning that the United States should not follow what he described as the United Kingdom’s increasing enforcement of speech violations.
Speaking on his HBO program Real Time, Maher cited a statistic from Britain's Free Speech Union that he said amounted to roughly 12,000 arrests a year for social-media posts and other speech-related offenses. He cautioned that "this country can't become that," saying Americans must resist efforts that would criminalize offensive expression even as he criticized some domestic proposals he views as curbs on speech.
Maher pointed to recent high-profile incidents to illustrate his concern. He noted the arrest earlier this month in London of Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan, whom Maher described as a prolific online critic of transgender activism. Linehan, an Emmy and multiple BAFTA-award winner, was detained by police at Heathrow Airport in connection with social-media posts critical of transgender activists.
"Last week, the Irish sitcom writer Graham Linehan ... got off a plane at Heathrow and got arrested by five British police officers," Maher said. He drew a distinction between what he called a spectrum of criticism — literary work by J.K. Rowling, stand-up by Dave Chappelle and what he described as more vitriolic online ranting by Linehan — and argued that "ugly is the price of a freedom so great as speech."
Maher also referenced actions in the United States that have prompted free-speech debates, including the arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil over pro-Palestinian activism on campus and public proposals by former President Donald Trump to penalize flag burning. While calling some expressions offensive, Maher said he would defend the right to publish them. "I would still go to the mat for that person to be able to print it," he said of an op-ed he described as objectionable.
The Free Speech Union, cited by Maher, has documented a rise in complaints and legal actions tied to speech in Britain; advocates there and elsewhere have debated whether new hate-speech and public-order enforcement have expanded to encompass a wider range of online expression. Linehan's arrest prompted widespread commentary about the scope of policing online posts and the balance between protecting groups from harassment and protecting individual expression.
Maher framed his remarks as a caution that democratic societies must choose between defending broad speech protections and adopting enforcement approaches that he said can chill debate. He criticized both what he sees as overly punitive British enforcement and domestic proposals he believes would limit speech, arguing that protecting the right to offend is essential even when the expression is unpopular or objectionable.
Maher made the comments on Real Time, his weekly HBO program, where he has frequently discussed free-speech issues. The remarks were reported by multiple outlets, and a Fox News report on the segment noted examples Maher used to illustrate his point.