While the substance of what Mr. Goodfriend said in his interview was accurately broadcast and published in the summary on Hir TV online, the headline under which the online version was published is inaccurate and misleading. We reached out to Hir TV and they have acknowledged our concerns.

Mr. Goodfriend made clear in his remarks that the U.S. government deplores the ideas that the exclusionary ethnic nationalist groups in question espouse, that their views are abhorrent, and that their positions are clearly at odds with U.S. policy -- which supports inter-ethnic tolerance -- and with the views of the vast majority of the American people whom we represent.

In response to a question about the Government of Hungary’s decision to ban the proposed conference, Mr. Goodfriend clarified that, while we deplore the views of any group that promotes this type of racism or ethnic discord, the U.S. government does not support banning expressions of this speech, but rather, we support exposing these groups and their ideas to public scrutiny, to allow people to speak out to refute these messages.

As Mr. Goodfriend noted in the interview, “We’re glad to see that the government of Hungary shares our concerns that messages that a group like this promotes are abhorrent. We’re pleased to see that the government of Hungary is speaking out to reaffirm that it does not support those who promote racial or ethnic intolerance.

However, I do have to add that as much as we deplore the views of any group that promotes this type of racism or ethnic discord, under U.S. law their right to express their views would be protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

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