Joe Scarborough faced an on-air correction from Marjorie Taylor Green after repeatedly misusing the name FACE Act during a discussion about Don Lemon’s arrest on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Both Scarborough and Greene served as Maher’s panelists for Friday’s episode of the HBO show, where they shared their conflicting stances on Lemon’s arrest, which followed his appearance at an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota earlier this month.
Lemon faces charges of violating two federal laws, conspiracy to deprive rights and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Admissions (FACE) Act, which partially prohibits interference with one’s First Amendment right to religious freedom.
Green clarified that she “fully supports” the DOJ’s decision to indict the independent journalist, claiming Lemmon violated the FACE Act by disrupting a place of worship and comparing parishioners to “white supremacists.”
“This is not journalism, this is activism,” said the former Georgia congresswoman. “Disrupting a worship service, preventing people’s right to worship God, that’s a violation of the FACE Act … I don’t think that’s journalism. That’s not the First Amendment, going into the middle of a church and harassing people.”
After Green concluded her point, Scarborough tried to jump in with her own point, but initially struggled to get the details of the case out.
“If I may disagree here, I think the people who went to church, those were protestors, if under the Faith Act,” Scarborough said, gesturing to Green for support.
Green pressed on with an immediate reform, in keeping with the “FACE Act.” However, Scarborough did not seem to hear him, as he repeated the “Act of Faith” again.
Again, Green fact-checked Scarborough, telling the TV personality that the federal law was called the “FACE Act.”
“Faith, right,” replied Scarborough. Two ex-politicians did this a couple of times about the name until Scarborough realized his mistake.
“Oh, the face” he said. “I thought, ‘You must have faith’, because it was inside [a] the church “
As Maher’s studio audience erupted in laughter, Greene added, “Parisians, Christians, believe and they were trying to keep the church and Don Lemmon and a bunch of activists came in and harassed them to the point where children were crying.”
Scarborough doubled down on his stance, however, sharing, “Whatever this act is, whether it’s the FACE Act or the FAITH Act or the FAKE Act, whatever the act is, I think those people who went into the church and disturbed, if [DOJ] They want to be prosecuted which is certainly their right to consider.”
He continued: “I think if someone walks in there and says, ‘I’m not with them. Can I ask you a few questions?’ Because you’re going to embed in war, you’re going to embed in opposition.
Per Scarborough, he had “no doubt” that the arrests of journalists Lemmon and Georgia Forte “intimidated other journalists”.
Lemon expressed similar sentiments after his release on Friday, sharing with reporters, “There has never been a more important time than now, for a free and independent media to shine a light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
He added: “Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night, doing what I’ve been doing for the past 30 years — and that’s covering the news. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects that job for me and countless other journalists … I will not be silenced.”
“Real Time with Bill Maher” airs new episodes on Fridays at 10pm ET on HBO.
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