Joe Scarborough faced an on-air correction from Marjorie Taylor Greene on “Real Time With Bill Maher” after he repeatedly misspelled the name of the FACE Act during a discussion about Don Lemon’s arrest.
Both Scarborough and Greene served as Maher’s panelists for Friday’s episode of the HBO show, where they shared their conflicting positions on Lemon’s arrest, which came after his presence at an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota earlier this month.
Lemon faces charges under two federal statutes, conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Admissions Act (FACE), which in part prevents one from interfering with someone’s First Amendment right to religious freedom.
Greene made it clear that she “fully supports” the DOJ’s decision to charge the independent journalist, claiming that Lemon violated the FACE Act by disrupting a place of worship and comparing parishioners to “white supremacists.”
“That’s not journalism, that’s activism,” stated the former Congresswoman from Georgia. “Disrupting a worship service, stopping people’s right to worship God, this is a violation of the FACE Act… I don’t think that’s journalism. That’s not the First Amendment, to come in and disturb people in the middle of the church.”
After Greene concluded her point, Scarborough tried to jump in with his own point, but initially struggled to retain the specifics of the case.
“If I may disagree here, I think the people who entered the church, who were the protesters, if under the Act of Faith,” Scarborough said, gesturing to Greene for support.
Greene quickly chimed in with a correction, noting “the FACE Act.” However, Scarborough did not seem to hear her, as he once again repeated the “Act of Faith.”
Again, Greene fact-checked Scarborough, telling the TV personality that the federal law is called the “FACE Act.”
“Faith, right,” Scarborough hit back. The two ex-politicians went back and forth on the name a few more times, until Scarborough realized his mistake.
“Oh, FACE,” he said. “I thought it was, ‘You Must Have Faith,’ because it was in it [a] a church. “
As Maher’s studio audience erupted in laughter, Greene added, “The parishioners, the Christians, have faith and were trying to own the church and Don Lemon and a bunch of activists came in and harassed them to the point where the kids were crying.”
Scarborough doubled down on his position, however, sharing, “Whatever that act is, whether it’s the FACE Act or the Faith Act or the False Act, whatever the act is, I think the people who came in and destroyed that church, if the [DOJ] wants to prosecute them, this is certainly their right to consider this.”
He continued: “I think there has to be some kind of differentiation between if someone goes in there and says, “I’m not with them. Can I ask you some questions?” Because you’re going to have embedded in the war, you’re going to have embedded in the protests.”
According to Scarborough, he had “no doubt” that the arrests of journalists Lemon and Georgia Fort “were intended to scare other journalists.”
Lemon expressed a similar sentiment after his release on Friday, sharing with reporters, “There is no more important time than now, this very moment, 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, for something I’ve been doing for the last 30 years – and that’s covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and countless other journalists … I will not be silenced.”
“Real Time With Bill Maher” airs new episodes Fridays at 10 pm ET on HBO.
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