Ainsley Earhardt Defends Elon Musk Sharing Wild Conspiracy About Pelosi Attack as ‘Free Speech’
Fox & Friends addressed Elon Musk’s promotion of an outrageous conspiracy behind the attack on Paul Pelosi, which Ainsley Earhardt defended as “free speech.”
Steve Doocy introduced the story by noting how “Elon Musk has got people on the political left with their heads exploding” before explaining how the new “Chief Twit” shared a link to a story that suggested that Paul Pelosi knew his attacker. “He took down the tweet. San Francisco cops came out and said it was clearly a break-in.”
“But the people on the left and the New York Times this morning are saying “Hey, the guy in charge of Twitter is spreading disinformation,” Doocy noted before asking, “What will the future of Twitter look like, Ainsley?”
The NY Times article is titled “Elon Musk, in a Tweet, Shares Link From Site Known to Publish False News,” the subheading reads, “The tweet on Sunday, which was later deleted, posted an article that made baseless allegations about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.”
“Well, all these celebrities and all of us should encourage free speech,” Earhardt replied, ignoring the merits of the baseless claims or disinformation that Musk shared and then later deleted. She continued to pivot to making the story about “Big Tech” and censorship, adding, “And we shouldn’t encourage censorship and control as long as it doesn’t lead to violence.”
She then defended Musk with his past rhetoric, saying, “He says he wants to hear from Democrats and from Republicans, and then people can make up their own minds. It’s important to the future of civilization to have a digital town square. A range of beliefs, without resorting to violence.”
It’s a curious tact at play here because Earhardt seems to be saying it’s okay to spread lies because of … free speech?
Imagine if Mediaite published an article reporting on Earhardt’s long struggle with having a prehensile tail, noting how viewers almost always see her from the front and never from behind because she doesn’t want people to notice she has a prehensile tail.
I’m certain that story would get a ton of traffic, and because of free speech, we are free to post such a story, but we never would because it’s a lie. Again, Ainsley Earhardt DOES NOT HAVE A PREHENSILE TAIL.
Free speech certainly covers lies and disinformation, but that doesn’t mean one cannot call out how irresponsible it was for Elon Musk to share a baseless conspiracy that Steve Doocy correctly noted was disinformation.
Watch above via Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
