Bill Maher stuck his neck out for Alex Jones in the midst of his banishment from various social media platforms.

Maher began with the disclaimer that the conspiracy theorist isn’t his friend and has told “crazy lies” about him, but expressed his disapproval that sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube have removed them from their services (Note: Twitter has banned him for a week for violating their terms and conditions).

“If you’re a liberal, you’re supposed to be for free speech,” Maher told his panel. “That’s free speech for the speech you hate. That’s what free speech means. We’re losing the thread of the concepts that are important to this country. If you care about the real American sh*t or you don’t. And if you do, it goes for every side. I don’t like Alex Jones, but Alex Jones gets to speak. Everybody gets to speak.”

The Weekly Standard editor Charlie Sykes pushed back, saying social media giants aren’t “obligated” to give Jones a platform, which Maher agreed.

Axios reporter Jonathan Swan accused tech giant CEOs of “being afraid of their own shadow” since conservatives on Capitol Hill hammer them on political bias while liberals hammer them over shutting down things that are offensive.

Former Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), who was supportive of banning Alex Jones, said that it’s the responsibility of these sites to crack down on harassment.

Sykes also mocked Twitter’s so-called punishment for the InfoWars host.

“The Twitter thing is so ridiculous,” Sykes said. “I mean what? Like he’s some sort of a nine-year-old?”

Watch the clips above, via HBO.

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