‘No Safe Spaces' star Adam Carolla says censorship 'hurting everyone,' not a partisan issue
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Comedian Adam Carolla said the goal of his new documentary about free speech, "No Safe Spaces," is to simply “make people aware of how nuts it is out there on campuses and in the media when it comes to censorship based on feelings” rather than facts and information.
“It's not a left or a right wing thing," Carolla told Fox News. "We have people across the political spectrum in the film, including [liberal CNN pundit] Van Jones, who says it doesn't help his team to have young people who can't defend their beliefs. This is hurting everyone.”
‘NO SAFE SPACES’ TAKES ON CENSORSHIP IN CHINA, POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD OF ACADEMIA
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Carolla stars in "No Safe Spaces" alongside conservative radio personality Dennis Prager.
The movie examines the politically correct world of academia, largely driven by the political left. Prager has called the film a "wake-up call" to the American people and claimed free speech is being trampled on to satisfy a political agenda.
Safe spaces, physical locations for students who feel victimized or offended, are becoming increasingly common on college campuses. Carolla joked that the average mid-20th century American would be completely dumbfounded by the trend.
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“They'd have an easier time understanding the iPhone – a television, telephone, map, calculator, record player, camera and butler all in one device the size of the pack of Lucky Strikes they'd be smoking at the dinner table – than a ‘safe space’ on campus,” Carolla cracked.
DENNIS PRAGER: 'NO SAFE SPACES' SHOWS THE LEFT AS 'A PURELY DESTRUCTIVE FORCE'
In addition to liberal universities, “No Safe Spaces” also takes on censorship in China. In one scene, Carolla says that in China “you go to jail if you say anything nice about gay people.” Another scene features a cartoon character singing about the First Amendment while mocking China.
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DENNIS PRAGER ON WHY NEW FILM 'NO SAFE SPACES' IS UNFAIRLY RATE
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the documentary has “a couple of risky scenes” considering “China-owned AMC Entertainment is set to exhibit the film in several of its theaters early in the film’s distribution pattern.”
Carolla said that filmmakers weren’t scared of attacking the Communist nation despite possible financial backlash.
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“China deserves to be called out,” Carolla said. “We'd be hypocrites if we did a movie about the suppression of free speech but didn't mention China.”
Earlier this month, Prager said he was hoping for a PG rating but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wouldn't budge from its PG-13 designation.
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“Despite our best efforts to meet the MPAA more than halfway, they have continued to deny us the PG rating our film deserves," Prager told Fox News. “I will urge my friends and fans who only go to PG movies to ignore the MPAA’s fake PG-13 rating and go anyway. And please bring friends.”
The film features commentary from a variety of Hollywood actors, scholars, academics, political figures and media members, including CNN’s Van Jones, Alan Dershowitz, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, Cornel West and Tim Allen.
"No Safe Spaces" is working to expand the number of theaters where it will be shown, but Carolla still doesn’t expect colleges to eliminate safe spaces because of it.
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“It would be nice," Carolla said. "But I'm not holding my breath.”
"No Safe Spaces" is being released Oct. 25
Fox News’ Jessica Napoli contributed to this report.