The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently joined in for a chat with Bill Maher on Club Random podcast, during which he stressed that political violence has no place in a functioning society, regardless of whether it comes from the left, right, or those who claim to be apolitical.
He insisted it cannot be justified, minimized, or treated as a legitimate tool to achieve political or cultural goals. Corgan framed America’s current system as rare and fragile when asked about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
He said, as transcribed by Alternative Nation, “We need to say culturally, societally, left, right, American, don’t care, ambivalent, political violence has to be off the table. It cannot be an instrument to achieve goal. It just can’t. It can’t be rationalized. It can’t be asterisked. It just can’t. It just can’t because what we have is so rare.”
Billy Corgan talks about free speech
Corgan noted that both he and Maher have benefitted from its opportunities, particularly through the free market, even though that system isn’t always fair to everyone. From there, he pivoted to what he considers the core foundation of democracy: free speech. Corgan explained that whenever he’s entered political discussions, his focus has always been on defending the right to speak and create freely.
He said, “And both of us are the beneficiaries of a free market system. And that free market system is not fair to everyone but and free speech system. Well, that’s always been my biggest thing.”
As an artist, he believes free expression is central to his identity and work, because inevitably, someone will always try to restrict what can be said, written, or sung. Without a strong commitment to free speech, he argued, not only artists but society at large risk losing the very freedoms that make the system valuable in the first place.
“You know, anytime I’ve ever stepped in the political arena, and it’s been very, very brief. I’ve always made the same point as an artist. If I don’t stand for free speech, I mean, what do I stand for? Because invariably somebody’s going to stand up and say, ‘You can’t say that. You can’t sing that, right?’”
Bill Maher himself got very emotional, saying he enjoyed being around Kirk, and many conservatives, and enjoys how they are open to debate.
