It pains this editor to write this because Jon Lovitz is a comedic genius with decades of making us all laugh. Sadly though, he is a tad confused about what freedom of speech really means, as evident in this tweet:
In Germany, the swastika is illegal. Do the Hitler salute, you get four months in jail.
So, if they made Nazis illegal,
Why haven't we?— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
Well, for starters we’re not Germany.
That and in America we have freedom of speech and freedom of ideas, even if said speech and ideas are backwards and horrible, like Nazism.
Free Speech.
— Wandering Mind (@PonderingMindz) August 14, 2017
I know. But hate individual crimes are now illegal.. but not hate groups??? https://t.co/ZrV4MgHaQB
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
Crime is illegal in general, Jon. Hence the word crime.
That little thing called freedom of speech. We can't pick and choose.
— Christy (@glaring4) August 14, 2017
But we do. Hate crimes are illegal. Hate groups should be illegal too. If you verbally threaten someone, you can be arrested. https://t.co/9QfKGYYFNL
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
Hate crimes and speech are not the same thing.
To his credit, he did also voice concern about AntiFa:
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Like this ANTIFA flyer? pic.twitter.com/8RTkvCkbwS
— Annie Oakley ? (@AnnieOakey222) August 14, 2017
Just as bad. https://t.co/NeFn9k0NDg
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
I'm sorry, but hate is bad. On the other hand, I hate Nazis. Nazis pretty much hate everyone. So I guess I should be banned! https://t.co/8yHN8p7WJw
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
Honestly we think Jon meant well … but it just didn’t go well.
Because limiting expression is what Nazis do…
— Alex (@alcapariah) August 14, 2017
Yes. Fascists make ideas, speech and certain types of people illegal.
Well then, so much for World War 2. Cause if we hadn't beaten the Nazis, you couldn't tweet that. Germany made Nazis illegal. Wonder why? https://t.co/CiPyvo0EN4
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 14, 2017
Huh?
https://twitter.com/jkirchick/status/897305607602151424
Watching people like you defend Nazis is nauseating. https://t.co/DrwjYohKvL
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 15, 2017
He doesn’t get it – people weren’t defending Nazis, they were defending free speech, even for abhorrent and awful jackasses. Because this is America and believe it or not, we still have the right to be jackasses.
https://twitter.com/jkirchick/status/897307182315732992
As a human being, I'm saying Nazis should be illegal. They have no place to be here in America. They are the antithesis of American values. https://t.co/bEDPT473B6
— Jon Lovitz (@realjonlovitz) August 15, 2017
Jon didn’t even realize by calling for a group of people to be illegal he was as bad as the group of people he wanted to make illegal.
https://twitter.com/jkirchick/status/897309488407089153
And a comedian should know that.
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