Author, actor and comedian Rob Schneider emphasized that without free speech, America could not be the center of technological innovation and progress.
Speaking at a Turning Point USA event Monday at University of California Berkeley, Schneider stated, “If we are going to have a vibrant society and continue to be the largest economy, the most technologically advanced society in the world, we must protect free speech and debate.” Restrictions on speech and debate also slow down innovation, invention and experimentation.
Schneider explained that empirical evidence and facts are essential to powering our economy and society. However, he warned that anyone who presents data or facts contrary to a leftist narrative is too often “shut down, censored, and subject to violence on university campuses.”
“This has to stop,” Schneider added, then quoted economist Thomas Sowell, “‘When we silence opposing views, we threaten the very fabric of a free society.’”
ROB SCHNEIDER: “If we are going to have a vibrant society and continue to be the largest economy, the most technologically advanced society in the world, we must protect free speech and debate.”@RobSchneider LIVE at the This Is the Turning Point Tour pic.twitter.com/2NBzW4dO7Z
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) November 11, 2025
He emphasized that “our freedom shrinks and our ability to create and innovate is greatly reduced” when free speech is met with violence. A society that attacks freedom is self-destructing, he argued.
There’s a campaign to skew the truth. “We’re being manipulated by social media, by politicians who are appealing to your passion, to the desires, to your hatred,” and America needs to “move as far away from that as we can,” Schneider stated. He urged college students “to be stakeholders in the American dream.”
TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated for free speech in September, paying the ultimate sacrifice for fearlessly defending truth in a hostile environment. The Media Research Center posthumously awarded Kirk with the 2025 MRC Free Speech Award for his sacrifice and legacy of promoting free speech. Andrew Kolvet, Kirk’s friend and Turning Point USA spokesman, reacted to the award by saying, “Charlie was completely devoted to open dialogue, debate, and free speech. He believed in the battle of ideas, not bullets.”
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