BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Standing up for free speech: Actor and SNL alum Rob Schneider taking to Twitter with a scathing message, quote, “Sorry to have to repeat this again. Free speech is all speech. Even the speech that you find repugnant. You are either for all of it or you for none of it. We don’t need people deciding for us what to think, see, or hear. That’s a load of totalitarian crap.” Our next guest is a comedian featured in the documentary No Safe Spaces, which goes nationwide December 6. It takes free speech on college campuses to task. Let’s greet Karith Foster. Karith, who’s right in here? Sacha Baron Cohen, who’s vilifying Facebook, or is it Rob Schneider?
KARITH FOSTER (COMEDIAN): Well Rob Schneider definitely has a point. Either you are for free speech, or you’re not. There’s no “a little bit, I’m kind of” -- it’s like being a little bit pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t.
KILMEADE: I hear you. And he’s been critical in the past because he feels stifled. You comedians are the first ones to get stifled. You can’t be as creative as you want, you can’t push barriers because now, all of a sudden, you’re pushed off the stage.
FOSTER: That is what’s happening. A lot of places, a lot of clubs, people are complaining, saying they don’t like something. They’re not understanding that yes, comedy comes from pain. Everybody has heard the equation tragedy plus time equals comedy; it’s not always going to be comfortable. But if you can laugh at it, you can get through it. That’s one of my mottos, and that’s what comics believe. The idea is to use humor to heal wounds. Use humor to bring people together. Use humor to connect us. And if we don’t have that going for us, then we’re pretty -- we’re in a very sad state.
