Josh Earnest ‘Reluctant’ to Say Whether Muhammad Cartoon Contest ‘Appropriate’

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest reacted yesterday to the shooting in Texas outside a “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest by making it clear that there is absolutely no expression of speech or art that justifies violence.

During today’s press briefing, Bill Press brought the issue up to Earnest, asking if it’s “appropriate to hold an event like that to deliberately poke fun at someone else’s religion.”

Earnest reiterated the same line about freedom of expression and said he’s “reluctant” to share his own judgment and the judgment of the government “about this particular act of expression.”

Press brought up how the group in question, run by Pamela Geller, has been designated as a hate group and said while they didn’t bring this upon themselves, “are they in any way responsible for what happened?” Earnest again insisted no speech justifies violent tactics.

Watch the video below, via C-SPAN:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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