Larry W. Zukerman, managing partner at Zukerman, Daiker and Lear in Cleveland, authored this guest column in the Cleveland Jewish News explaining a widely misunderstood aspect of First Amendment law in the context of Roseanne Barr’s firing by ABC.
Following ABC’s termination of Barr’s employment after her racist and anti-Semitic tweets in May 2018, many asked whether her First Amendment rights had been violated. Zukerman clarified the critical legal distinction: the First Amendment only protects against government infringement of free speech. “The text of the First Amendment specifically states, ‘Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.'” Private companies like ABC are not government actors and can legally terminate employees for their speech without implicating constitutional rights.
Zukerman cited parallel examples — Christian Dior dropping Sharon Stone after her “karma” comments about the 2008 China earthquake, and Aflac dropping Gilbert Gottfried after insensitive tsunami tweets — to illustrate that private employment consequences for speech are well-established and constitutionally permissible.
His conclusion: “just because you have the constitutional right to say something, doesn’t always mean that you should, and be a mensch and don’t be a racist, anti-Semite without expecting consequences for your actions.”
Read the full article here: https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/opinion/guest_columns/first-amendment-confusion-how-barr-got-fired-show-canceled/article_7b8616f2-6feb-11e8-81df-6fd4ba129c42.html
